Road to Survival
by Canucklehead1800
Summary: When the X-Team goes on a small family vacation---they soon find themselves on a mission to survive.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

I looked out the window and realized I didn't know where we were or which state or town we were even in…but all I did know was that we're heading back to New York. I can only be thankful that we're in our charter bus/RV and not the _Blackbird_--no matter how comfortable Jean and Scott say it is, flying isn't one of my favorite things to do. That and Scott isn't the best pilot.

I leaned back in my seat, staring out the window but was stopped, seeing that Marie had suddenly gotten up from what the kids call the 'game room' in front of the TV. "You alright, kid?"

"No," she started and shook her head. "I feel like crap. I'm gonna go lay down, my sinuses are killin' me," she called out sickly as she rubbed her red nose. I watched as she slowly disappeared into the back of the bus (her feet dragging against the carpeted floor while she walked) to where the bunks were. Even though the windows were up in the bus, I could tell winter was near.

Yay. Can't you see my excitement? Didn't think so.

I do admit, the charter bus is much more peaceful than the usual ride we take on the _Blackbird. _Sure it's fast, but not the most comfortable thing to ride in. And I can only thank Chuck for letting us take the Charter Bus.

"I never thought this trip would be so boring," Bobby muttered. I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "There's nothing but damn trees out here, and maybe the occasional deer," Bobby exclaimed as he stared out the window in complete boredom.

"Yeah. Like, where are we anyway?" Jubilee asked as she unraveled a piece of candy and popped it into her mouth. I looked around me and realized I wasn't the only one losing track of where we were. So therefore, no one really answered. Scott, on the other hand, mumbled something about the trees Bobby was complaining about and how beautiful they are. He obviously hadn't had much on his mind.

"Bobby, stop doing that. You're giving me a headache!" Jubilee cried out dramatically as she grabbed both sides of her head and winced in pain.

"Then don't look at the TV," Bobby grunted. "There is absolutely nothing on. What the hell are we supposed to do now?" he sighed sadly as he continued switching the channels back and forth. I, on the other hand, only watched in fun—due to the fact there wasn't much else to do.

"I can only think of one thing," I muttered and lay back on the bench seat—putting my beige cowboy hat over my eyes and heard the grunts and groans of Jubilee trying to fight her way of stealing the remote from Drake.

Unfortunately for me, my attempt on taking a nap failed, so I decided to check on Chris, our driver. There wasn't much to do, like Bobby complained about, and realized I needed to ask him how much longer it was going to take before getting back to the _Big Apple_ and just to make sure he wasn't dozing off.

"Hey Chris. What's up?" I yawned. Yeah, that's not the best way to greet a driver who's been driving for the past few days on end.

"Nothin' much, Log." He yawns. Yeah see? Never good.

"Seems kinda lonely out here," I grumbled when I noticed that we were the only vehicle on the road. "I sure hope you know where the hell we're goin'."

"Don't worry, Logan. Everything's fine. I know this road even with my eyes shut," he told me with a chuckle. I chuckled nervously and shook my head in return.

"Yeah, let's try that next week," I grunted back at him with a slight chuckle. I walked away and heard him chuckle back, which put a slight smirk on my face.

As I returned to the game room area, I watched as Bobby and Jubilee argued on which video game they were to play and which system to use. "No, I want to play this one!" Bobby yelled and waved the Super Mario Bros. game in his hand firmly, while Jubilee picked up a Play Station 3 disc and shook her head.

"No!" she yelled and waved around Resident Evil. I furrowed my eyebrows and sighed heavily and watched a little more. "You like this game just as much as I do, why don't we just take turns?"

"C'mon Jubes, I don't want to take turns!" Bobby whined. "I want to race you in Mario Kart."

"We haven't played that game in like, forever," Jubilee said as she shook her head almost violently. "Just play this---Whoa!" she called out and nearly fell off her chair when the bus screeched to a halt. Thanks to good equilibrium, she didn't. Bobby wasn't as lucky, he fell butt first. Scott, who was standing, knocked his head on the edge of a cabinet.

"Dammit!" Scott cursed out as his hand went straight to the bump on his head. "Oh, jeez," he whispered and winced in pain and removed his hand. Bobby stood up and rubbed his cheeks while Jubilee burst into laughter.

"Nice fall there, Drake!"

"Shut up," Bobby grumbled and stuck his tongue out but Jubilee only laughed harder. I gave a chuckle too.

"Hey Chris!" Scott yelled out and slowly stood up—placing his hand gently onto his forehead once more. I turned my attention from the kids to the others and furrowed my brows tightly. "What the hell was all that about?" Scott asked us and rubbed his head gently. I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Ororo and when her eyes met mind, she only shrugged her shoulders in reply. "Chris!" Scott called out once more but didn't receive an answer the second time.

"I'll go check it out," I called out and slowly walked to the front of the bus, finding four men standing beside Chris. I furrowed my eyebrows, looked at each man carefully and slightly waved. "Uh…hi?" I grunted and shook my head in confusion.

"Will someone please talk to me?!" I heard Scott yell out in annoyance and started to make his way to the front of the bus but was immediately interrupted when Chris and I both reappeared in the living room where everyone sat—a shot gun each pointed at our heads. "What the hell is this?!"

"Shut up!" a dark haired stranger called out.

**-----**

Marie was having one of her bad days. At first it all started with her sinuses being irritated but Jean insisted it was something else. And for some reason, Marie was persistent in believing it wasn't anything but a sinus infection. Nevertheless, her little 'infection' didn't go away just as Jean had expected and a headache was making its presence known to her. Drowsy, Marie decided to sleep all the way home.

Marie felt the bus' sudden halt but ignored it. Flat tires, she assumed and shifted deeper into the bunk and dozed off. It's a wonder how she could do it easily while listening to heavy metal music, but she did.

-----

"What the hell is this?" Scott stared in complete confusion—his eyes widened. He looked at me after a moment and raised an eyebrow but I only shook my head at him—not having an answer to his questions which I'm sure he had.

"Sorry to crash in like this but uh," a redheaded man, who was standing behind Chris, called out with a sadistic smile; his gun tightly in hand. "We need a ride."

"Please," Chris pleaded—tears flowing down his cheeks. "Please, we don't want any trouble."

"Shuddup," The redhead growled and jammed his handgun right below Chris's jaw roughly—causing him to wince a great deal. After a few moments, the two walked back to the front of the bus.

"Please, don't let us stop you from sitting down," the black haired man who was standing behind me called out to the others. He was as tall as me, and had goldish hazel colored eyes. "Please, get comfortable," he said and gestured the gun towards Jubilee and Bobby—who was standing behind Scott. Slowly, the three sat down on the couch and sighed heavily.

"Hey, c'mon guy," I called out and turned to the black haired man but was only hit square in the nose by the back of the gun. I grunted the moment the gun met my face, and immediately turned back to him—my small wound healing immediately after. I heard Jubilee gasp and call out to me in a mere whisper.

"Turn around," the black haired man called out to me and pointed the gun to my face—right in between the eyes, "and put your hands behind your head," he told me, holding out a pair of handcuffs. I only scoffed in return.

"Who died and made you Darth Vader?" I asked, scrunching up my face in disgust. I took the handcuffs, held them out, and dropped them at my feet a short moment later. "Go fuck yourself," I finished—my eyes never leaving his.

"Excuse me?" The black haired man growled and crossed his arms…as if he didn't hear me clearly the first time…and narrowed his eyes.

I chuckled in a scoffing sort of way and crossed my arms, "You heard me, Bub. Want me to spell it out for ya?" I asked, raised an eyebrow, and began to act out my first demand of fucking said self.

It wasn't a short moment later until the goldish-hazel eyed man shoved me hard in the chest, causing me to vaguely lose my balance, but I reacted quickly and punched him in the face. Unfortunately, he reacted sooner than I anticipated and jabbed his fist into my kidney, causing my knees to give out to some extent. I winced in pain and just before I was able to get up, he grabbed a chunk of my hair from the back and slammed my forehead into the marble counter. The counter cracked and my forehead bled a little. "Get off o'me!" I growled furiously but was sadly punched in the kidney once more. If he kept this up—I'd be pissing blood for weeks. I tried to push the guy off…unfortunately, my attempt was moderately unsuccessful. Outcome: my wrists were sadly bound together by said handcuffs.

Isn't this just...fucking dandy?

"Hey, Brad!" The redhead called out and leaned against the wall—crossing his arms. The black haired man who handcuffed me turned to him. "Want me to tell that fat goat to start driving?"

"Yeah," Brad nodded. "Oh and Ted…If he refuses," he started and held up the gun. "I'll blow his fuckin' brains out." Jubilee gasped and looked over at me—tears forming in her eyes. I only winked at her—due to the fact I couldn't do much more to console her. Ted nodded and walked away. After a few moments of some _I-want-to-sound-like-a-real-badass-when-I-grow-up_ abusive shouting, the bus started up again.

"Well," the dark brown haired man beside Scott called out as he looked around. He walked to the fridge, opened it and I watched as he took out the last slice of pepperoni pizza and took a bite out of it—my slice, I might add. "You people famous or something?" he asked and grabbed a corona.

"Do we look like we're famous?" Scott asked and raised an eyebrow. "We're just a small family on a vacation."

The man shrugged and took another bite of the pizza. "Even better," he grunted and chuckled. "More stuff to take."

"C'mon Carlos," the blonde called out firmly. "Stop fuckin' around would ya?"

"Shuddup, Marky-mark," the brunette, who I took for as Carlos, called out and chuckled at the nickname he gave the blonde and took another bite of the pizza before taking a swig of beer. Almost instantly the Mark and Carlos started bickering. I would have tried to stop it myself, but I was kinda…stuck.

Brad, however, grunted in annoyance (almost as if his evil plan wasn't going according to plan) and approached the two. "What the hell are you doin'?!" he yelled out and snatched the pizza slice and threw it into the trash can leaning against the wall. _At least he was generous enough to throw it away; _I thought to myself and scoffed.

I turned to Scott and sighed. "Nice move, Cyk," I growled in a whisper and rolled my eyes.

"What the hell did you want me to say?" Scott asked in a whisper—his arms flying. "Saying yes or no isn't gonna do any justice. They're just gonna steal our shit anyways," he told me. I opened my mouth to comment more but was interrupted.

"Whatever!" the blonde, or Mark, yelled out in defeat. "I'm gonna go check out the back of this dump," he grunted but was stopped when Ororo yelled out for him.

"Hey wait!" she called out to the blonde haired man—remembering Marie. "There's nothing back there," she told him. "There are just unmade beds and dirty clothes."

Mark walked over with a small smirk slowly spreading across his rather ugly face and roughly grabbed the back of Ororo's hair—a full handful. Ororo winced in pain and grabbed his wrists just before Mark pulled her up and slammed her against the wall---mainly with his lower torso area. She turned her head away from him; her breathing became heavy and tears formed in her eyes. "Mmm," Mark groaned with pleasure and smelled the sweet scent of Ororo's hair before kissing her neck gently. "Aren't you a tasty chunk o'meat?"

"Please," Ororo sobbed softly. Mark then decided it was a good idea to 'caress' her breasts. Of course being the bastard that he is—he hadn't wanted to cause pleasure to the woman---only fear and pain. "Get off o'me!" she roared—more tears quickly escaping.

Next thing I remember, I was out of my little chair and handcuffs and straddled Mark. I punched him once in the nose. "If you ever touch her again," I called out and punched him again, and as I pulled away, I slowly unsheathed my claws. "I'll rip your fuckin' dick off!"

That's when I heard the sound of a shotgun being cocked. I froze in place---not knowing who the gun was being aimed at—whether it was me or one of the others. But my question was simply answered when I felt the nose of the gun against my head. I sighed. "Get up," Brad ordered. I stood up slowly and held my hands up and looked him in the eyes. "Put 'em away," he told me. I hesitated for a moment and slowly slid them back. "You pull that shit again, Furball, and I'll _shoot _your dick off."

"Mother-fucker, I would love to see you try," I growled—feeling very bullet proof.

_BANG._

-----

I don't know what hit me but it was definitely one hell of a ride---and not in a good way—stars circling my head, or so it felt. I hadn't wanted to open my eyes, but the voice that lingered; urging me to wake up, made me do so. Usually, I'd wake up to a more delightful person or feeling—usually Scott or Ororo were our morning wake up calls. Problem now—it wasn't morning anymore, and I wish I hadn't woken up.

I slowly opened my eyes and tried to adjust them to the lighting surrounding me. "What happened?" I asked in a raspy groggily voice. I cleared my throat and sat up, immediately realizing my hands were bound together by another pair of handcuffs—my hands in front of me rather than behind. I sniffed the air and realized that the handcuffs that kept my hands together, was a rather familiar metal—adamantium. "What the…" I started but was stopped when everything came back to me. The four men. The hijacked bus.

"Logan." I hear. I looked around and found Scott and Jean sitting in a small corner together. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Brad shot you in the stomach and the head. So, that's probably why you're so out of it," he told me simply.

"Thanks for the sympathy, Cyk," I growled and sat up. "…makes me feel a shit load better." After a few moments trying to get out of the handcuffs, I thought of Marie. "Did they get to her?"

"No," Jean whispered. "They had no idea she was even back there."

"Yeah," Bobby whispered. I turned to him and watched as he slowly turned to the redhead, Ted, before returning his gaze towards me. "Ororo convinced him that there wasn't anything back there," he explained firmly. "Besides, if she's still sleeping with her Discman on, there's no way she'd be able to hear all this commotion," Bobby commented and sighed heavily.

"But with the bus jolting and everything, don't you think she would've gotten a little curious?" Ororo questioned.

"No. She knows how Chris drives. It practically puts her to sleep," I grunted—still fidgeting with the cuffs. "Think about it, the kid falls asleep when _I _drive."

"Hey, Furball!" Mark called out to me. I raised my trademark eyebrow and looked at his gun before looking at him. Ted also turned his gaze to Mark. "Quit'ch y'yappin'," Mark told me firmly and went back to detailing his gun. I grunted in response and looked back at Ted. Ted looked at me for a moment longer before returning his gaze to the Solitaire game he had laid out on the floor of the RV.

I rolled my eyes, shook my head slightly in annoyance and tried to get out of the handcuffs (for the umpteenth time) but when the bus swerved violently, it caused me to lose balance and fall to my side. I grunted in annoyance and flopped around until I was able to sit up (and due to the bus's swerving, my flopping and looking like a fish outta water, only lasted longer than anticipated) on my knees.

"What's goin' on up there?!" Ted yelled, but never took his eyes off the game. The bus only swerved harder and he hadn't received an answer in return.

Carlos came to the back of the bus, trying to hold onto something secure to keep himself steady, "We hit something back there!" he called out and lost his grip and struggled to get another good grip on something else. "The driver can't control the bus. He says the brakes are out."

"What?!" Mark called out in annoyance and walked passed Jubilee—stepping over her legs. "What the hell are you playin' at, Carlos?"

"Nothin'!" I heard Carlos yell out as the two started to make their way to the front of the bus but my attention was suddenly poured onto Ted when he called out.

"Oh man," he whined and stood up. He walked over and looked at Carlos and Mark for a moment before sighing heavily and crossing his arms. "It wasn't supposed to be like this." To be honest, he sounded like one of those 'I-wanna-be-a-bad-guy-when-I-grow-up' guys…but when something _bad actually_ happens—he wimps out. "Fuck!"

"Hey Ted," Ororo called out. Ted turned to her—his brows furrowed tightly. "Just calm down, okay?"

"Bitch, shut up!" He yelled out, back-slapping her across the left side of her face. She gasped and slowly touched her cheek and winced.

"Whoa, hey!" I roared angrily, stood up and got in Ted's face. "What the hell's your problem hittin' on a woman?" I called out and furrowed my brows tightly and pushed him in the chest. "Don't like it, do ya?" I asked sarcastically. Not a split second later, Ted slapped me in the face (which stunned me), roughly grabbed the scruff of my shirt and slammed me into the wall—causing me to grunt loudly. "Get off o'me, you fuckin' bastard," I growled.

"Just what the fuck are you gonna do?" I hear Brad ask. Ted turned to him—his grip still tight on my shirt. Brad walked over and gestured for Ted to walk off. Ted looked back at me for a mere second before doing as told. He stood in a corner, crossed his arms, and watched in amusement. I looked back at Brad and raised an eyebrow. He then only scoffed and slapped me across the face before shoving my body further against the wall. "What the hell're you gonna do, tough-guy?" he repeated. "You're the one in the handcuffs." I then glared and decided it was a good idea to hock a loogey in his face—due to the fact I didn't have much else to work with. Brad chuckled slightly to himself and pulled out a small blue-gray rag from his back pants pocket and wiped off what I spat and looked up at me. Sadly, my current thoughts were interrupted when I felt the burly blow to my lower stomach.

My knees gave out due to the blow, but didn't cause me to fall completely to the floor. Brad grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt, placed be against the wall once more, waited until I was able to focus on him before throwing another punch in my lower stomach. The second blow wasn't as hard, but was still rather painful. After the following thwacks, and I was able to control myself, I reared back and punched Brad in the nose, causing him to lose some balance. After a few moments of what seemed to be a cat-fight between two extremely pissed off men, Brad roughly grabbed my lower jaw and squeezed it tightly and me closer so we'd be practically nose-to-nose. "Do you know what this is?" he asked and pulled out a syringe. I knew exactly what it was. "Either you calm down, or you and your precious little family's gonna get it."

I looked at Brad and wanted to personally kick his ass, but instead I sighed heavily and closed my eyes. "Just get your Goddamn hands off me," I growled and opened my eyes. Brad smirked and once I felt his grip loosen, I pulled away. Again, I wanted to swipe that ugly ass smirk off his face, but too knew that he'd gladly poke and prod me and the others with the syringe (and the substance it held) that us Mutants feared. Too unfortunately, I failed. I also noticed that Mark held a syringe while standing near Ororo. Ted held one as well—standing near Jeannie and Scott.

Oh. Goody.

I groaned and turned my attention to Brad. "Fuck it," he muttered and slammed his fist into my lower torso area. I too heard Scott, Jean and Ororo call out in pain simultaneously to mine. Only thing was---I realized it wasn't his fist—but the syringe. I looked up at him and slowly fell to my knees before slowly pulling said syringe from my body and looked down at it. '_Worthington Labs' _it read. My body slowly became weak, everything around me was blurry, and I got cold really quickly. Sure there were times where I wanted to give up on life---but not like this, and sure as shit not now. "Like I said…" he started. I looked up at him. "…what are you gonna do?" he finished.

"When I get outta this," I started firmly, still holding onto my stomach. "I'm gonna cut your Goddamn head off…see if that works," I growled. He only, in return, snarled before hitting me upside the head (the same spot, mind you), with the back of the gun. I grunted the moment the gun came into contact, and it caused darkness to slowly take over. From the corner of my eye, Mark was 'man-handling' Ororo for the second time. I watched as he walked to Ororo and grabbed the back of her hair and pulling her up to her feet.

Tears formed in Ororo's eyes as Mark ran his hands up and down her slender body—grabbing at her breasts. From what I saw, the way he was touching her body---it wasn't as rough as he was previously, due to the fact Ororo wasn't wincing in pain as he did so. It wasn't a second later when Mark grabbed Ororo and spun her around before slamming her face first into the table—her back to him. He smirked viciously as he pulled her shirt up—revealing her caramel colored back. He then pulled her up to a standing position, tore her bra off with one violent yank, and then forcefully laid her down once more. Still smirking, he rested his hand on the small of her back—holding her against the table and undid his belt quickly with his free hand. I would have stopped him but…my body was too feeble to do so.

"Storm!" Jubilee called out and started to get up but the sound of a gun cocking caused Bobby to pull her back down next to him. Her eyes widened with fear, hate, and shame—due to the fact she was unable to help her fellow X-member.

"Stop!" I called out and started to reach for Mark but was interrupted when Ted wrapped his arms under my mine and put his hand behind my head—putting me in a headlock of some sort. I grunted as he slammed my body into the wall with my attention in the direction of Ororo and Mark—forcing me to watch as Ororo was…well…I think you get the point. "Oh my God…'Ro…" I cried.

Mark turned to me, smiled and winked just before he roughly shoved his manhood inside Ororo's small body. She cried softly and gripped the edges of the table…and there was nothing I could do. Moaning with pleasure, Mark lay over Ororo, gripping her hair tightly as he pounded harder and harder. I looked at Bobby and Jubilee and they to me. They cried and I tried to control my tears, but again—my attempts bungled.

It was minutes later when Brad walked into the room and looked directly at Mark. He sighed heavily and shook his head. "Mark!" he yelled out and crossed his arms. Mark never missed a beat. "Quit fuckin' around and get your shit. We're gettin' off this bus." Mark pulled away from Ororo after a moment and roughly grabbed her arms, pulled her up, spun her around---slamming her back into the wall. She cried out in pain and winced. "Be a good girl and gimme a kiss," he demanded and grabbed her cheeks—squeezing them together to make her lips pucker up. Ororo closed her eyes tightly as he pulled her forward, kissing her already bruised lips.

Mark pulled away from Ororo and smirked at her. He gave her cheek two small smacks and walked away from her, gesturing for Ted to follow. He did as told. I fell to my knees, due to the fact I was rather weak and stunned at what I just witnessed. I know I've witnessed a lot in my time—but seeing what I saw, takes a whole different turn on how fucked up people really are. I kept my eyes on Ororo and sadly watched as she cried heavier, slowly leaned up against the wall and slid down onto her knees—burying her face in her hands, crying.

I furrowed my brows tightly and looked at the other men and watched as they all, but Brad, jumped. Brad turned to us and looked down at me with a smirk. "Well, there's good news and bad news," Brad started. Everyone turned to him. "Bad news…the bus is going to crash. Good news, you all will be dead in less than five minutes," Brad practically sang, saluted us and jumped off.

The moment after Brad jumped; I quickly made my way to Ororo and grabbed her gently—knowing she was in a lot of pain. "'Ro, talk to me."

"Logan…" she cried and crawled into my arms like a child would after having a nightmare. I held her tightly and tried to consol her---but my attempts failed when I too began to cry with her.

"We gotta get off this bus!" Bobby shouted a short moment later.

"Y'think?" I asked him and turned my attention back to Ororo. "C'mon," I whispered to her and gently kissed her forehead before propping her back against the wall. She nodded and I tried to get out of the handcuffs yet again. I thought about Chris and wanted to help him---but knew he had already lost control of everything—maybe even himself.

"Grab something to break your fall!" Scott yelled out. I looked up from him and after a split second, his eyes met mine. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion at that time. "Logan--" For once in my life—I felt what it was like to have a family. To have people who wanted you around, no matter how often you may royally piss them off. I hated to admit it—but I was truly terrified. My heart pounded wildly in my chest while I still fidgeted with the cuffs. By this point, my hands had begun to bleed just from the digging in the metal—but I didn't stop. Tears formed and escaped slowly down my cheeks. I looked around and found Jubilee and Bobby holding each other tightly. Ororo and Jean bawled in each other's arms. _Marie._ She was still in the back.

My attempt at getting out of the handcuffs finally pulled off when I found a small key lying on the floor. I unhooked the cuffs, and freed my wrists before quickly holding onto a leg of the table, which was fastened to the bus. I was a little surprised in myself in how fast I moved to the table after getting the cure from Brad. I mean think about it, a three hundred and fifty year old man still movin' _this _fast? Damn skippy.

I saw Bobby across from me and he gave me a weak smile. I turned to Jean and Ororo and looked at them, and they to me. Scott ran towards me (which caught my attention) and grabbed the leg across from me and looked at me. He slowly held his hand out and I quickly latched on and squeezed. "Scott--" The bus swerved violently, causing everyone to scream in horror (including myself). I noticed that Carlos never made it out of the bus and I watched as he frantically tried grabbing for something to hold onto. I also noticed a huge duffel bag he carried. 'Probably full o'money," I thought and shook my head. I wasn't sure if the bastard managed to accomplish his attempt and to be honest, I could care less. To be honest…I wanted the fucker dead.

A loud crash, a bang, and Chris screaming and all the way down was like a freight train full

o'butt-kick rolling through with no brakes. Literally. _Marie. _I never got to say goodbye to her. Poor girl, she won't know what hit her—unless she wakes up in the midst of it all. I can't even begin to imagine the state we'll be in when they finally find us—Dead.

I turned my head and watched (almost in slow motion) as plates fell from their cabinets and crashed onto the hard floor, video games, DVD's and even the TV sliding all around, plastic cups bouncing from one place to another, clothes flying...everything was havoc. Everyone screamed, cried, and held onto each other for dear life as the bus nose dove all the way down, crashed head first, and then landed on its side. I hit my head again, didn't even scream. "Scott—are--are you--" Blackness engulfed me. Dying sucks.

----

Marie hadn't cared on waking up the first moment the the bus swayed. It had all happened before to her. But when Marie felt the sudden nose diving, she found herself only being drug down. She grabbed the handle on the side of the bunk but lost her grip when the bus shook dangerously. Marie crashed roughly on her stomach and ignored the burning pain which was searing her body apart. She had to get to them.

"Bobby!" Marie screamed, trying to pull herself up but all she heard was screaming in return. Even Logan's. She heard Scott and Logan shouting something but couldn't tell what was said. _What the hell is going on?_ "Scott! What's happened?" she screamed, only to be muffled by the sound of another crash. Marie hit her head on the edge of the bunk and blackness slowly took hold. _I'm dead. This can't happen. Not now._

------

When I woke up, the pain in my head woke up as well. And I thought you felt nothing when you're dead. Well, I guess that only meant one thing---I'm in hell—because let's face it, I felt _everything._ Smoke permeated the entire area, and everything smelled horrible. The smoke forced its way into my lungs, causing me to cough—and every time I had, my head throbbed a great deal. Placing my hand to my head, I touched the wound caused by the crash, winced in pain and pulled my hand away almost immediately after.

I looked at my hand and saw the large amount of blood, but couldn't tell if it was just from my head, or other wounds from previous events. Nonetheless, I was _still_ bleeding. I looked around me and found everything completely destroyed. The ceiling fan hung practically by a thread and I watched as it swung from side to side above my head. After each small swing, the fan made a creaking noise, which caused me to think it was ready to let go at any moment in time.

Slowly, I rolled over to my side, trying to reposition myself, and while so—glass broke beneath me, piercing my hands and knees. Once I was fully on all fours, I noticed someone lying beside me. At first, my heart skipped a beat (which should have killed me right then), not knowing _who_ lay there. I felt my eyes water up, but I held them back as I rolled the figure over and once I realized who it was…I cried happily. The fourth fella. Carlos.

Sighing heavily, I slowly stood up—almost as if I were a baby trying to stand up for the first time—stumbled a few times but once I had my balance, I looked all around me. I found Jean and Ororo sprawled out next to each other in the hallway, Bobby in the kitchen, and Scott was crumbled to the side not far from me with his back facing me. _Where the hell is Jubes? _I wondered. I approached Scott slowly and knelt down (which hurt like hell) and leaned over him. "Scott, get up. C'mon," I demanded in a low growl and slapped his face lightly. Thank God it didn't take long before he finally woke up, coughing. He was usually the easiest to wake.

Blinking a few times, Scott furrowed his brows tightly and rubbed his eyes. Once he was comfortable enough to fully keep his eyes open, he looked up at me and groaned. "Not the prettiest image I hoped to see," he grunted, brushing off what shards of glass lay on his shirt and pants. Ironically, a few scratches and pieces of glass pierced his body. Bastard. He looked up at me and furrowed his brows together. "Logan, what is it?"

I pointed at his face—unable to speak due to confusion. I remember getting the cure from Brad, but never actually saw Scott get it. Apparently he had—if not, then this must be a dream. "Your glasses…" I replied in confusion. "Did you---"

"Oh, yeah," he interrupted softly and sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck as if he were nervous, and looked up at me before continuing. "Jean and I got the cure just as Ororo had. I--I didn't wanna say anything in front of the kids," he told me. His eyes were a bright blue. I always thought they'd be brown…

I hadn't replied. Only stared in return. I didn't know if Scott or the others acknowledged my getting the cure, and if they did I didn't want to talk about it. Living through the pain as we speak was enough for any man to endure. Even me. The feeling of being the old man I represented, alarmed me. I knew I grew weaker as seconds passed, but I had to keep fighting. Stepping into the kitchen where Bobby now lies, I took in the scene beyond. I sighed profoundly and watched as the room I stood in altered—illuminating a more pleasurable sight we had just hours ago. The pleasing laughter was eliminated and reality reappeared when I heard the hoarse voice from Bobby. "Where's Jubes?" he asked.

I looked over at him and furrowed my eyebrows and watched as he quickly stood up and began searching for her. He suddenly stopped and placed a hand over his mouth and closed his eyes. "What?" I asked him and walked to him and followed his gaze. I gasped at the sight of Jubilation Lee and knelt down to her quickly. "Oh my God, Jubes!" Her shirt was partly torn off, revealing the back of her right shoulder—skin practically torn off. "Scott, try and find something to apply pressure on her wounds, Bobby—try and wake up 'Ro and Jeannie." They nodded and did as told.

Thankfully Jean and Ororo woke up. If they hadn't, I would have passed out due to my head injury. When Jean approached Jubilee, I stepped back and shortly after remember Marie. I hurried (or, tried to at least) to the back of the bus, finding Marie slouched in a corner by the bunk—blood dripping from her forehead. "Marie!" I yelled out and lightly tapped her face. Nothing. "Marie!" Nothing. "C'mon baby-girl," I called out and tapped her face again, only this time it was a little harder. After a few struggling moments, Marie and I got back to the others and I took notice of Jubilee waking up.

"You guys smell that?" Bobby asked and stood up slowly.

The bus was filled with silence before Marie broke it. "Gasoline."

I sniffed the air and what I hated at this moment was all my best abilities are gone. My good sense of smell, sight, and most likely hearing is all out of whack. That---and I'm getting older by the second.

"That's just perfect," Jean called out, interrupting my thoughts, and stood up quickly. "We have to get out of here." Ororo arrived in the front of the bus with our backpacks with our personal belongings in them.

"We're in a clearing, somewhere in the woods and it's snowing. It's already six and if we don't wanna get too deep in the snow, we need to move now," she demanded. "And look what I found," she muttered and opened a black duffel and pulled out a wad of money. "This is the money they stole. We need to turn it into the police. Tell them it was stolen."

"And why exactly would we do that? Those bastards ain't gonna believe us," I told her with a shake of my head. "We're mutants."

"Not since we got the cure. Right now, you, Jean, Scott and I are just humans. Believe me Logan; I don't like sayin' it just as much as you don't like hearin' it. But we can point out the bad guys to them. We know what they look like, and what they're names are. Think about it," Ororo told me firmly.

"With how my head is right now, I'd rather not think at all," I mumbled and sighed heavily and then looked down at Jubilee. "Jubes, can you get up?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, struggling to get on her feet. "I'm scarred for like…ever."

"Hey, have you taken a good look at my face lately?" Bobby asked. I managed a smile and rolled my eyes. _Those two will never stop fighting. _

"Houston, we've got a problem," Scott called out slowly as he walked up from the front of the bus.

"What?" we all asked in unison.

"The bus is lying on the exit door. So we're basically—"

"Jolly-Well-Fucked?" I asked and crossed my arms.

Scott nodded. "Pretty much."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

"We have to break a window or something," Bobby called out. He grabbed a foldable chair while the rest were trying to grasp the idea of getting out of the way.

"Looks like WWF or something," Jubes said to no one in general. Everyone ignored her and Bobby slammed the chair to a glass window as hard as he could—but nothing cracked.

"Dammit!" Scott cursed at the failed attempt.

"Wait, we dove nose first, right?" Ororo called out. "So that means Chris's windshield must'a cracked."

We all hurried to the front of the bus. "C'mon guys." Marie was the last to arrive at the front of the bus, and the moment she saw Chris's lifeless body crushed on the driver's seat, eyes still open---Marie turned her head away, unable to accept the truth. "Marie--"

"Chris's dead," she whispered as tears stung her eyes. "Oh my God…"

"Marie, look at me. You have to get off this bus. Take my hand and we'll go. Everything'll be alright. Just take my hand," I called out to her consolingly as I watched Scott say a silent prayer over Chris and close his eyes. "C'mon I got'ch you," I said sweetly and turned her attention away from Chris.

Bobby gave a hard kick and a small portion of the windshield gave way. After the windshield cracked, another kick made a decent hole for a person to pass. "Try one more time. Let's make a bigger hole," Jean called out as she and Ororo gathered the bags. Bobby tried one last time but it didn't budge. I tried to as well, but no avail. "There's no time, we have to make do."

Marie watched as Ororo and Jean threw their bags out and then passed through, followed by Bobby, Jubilee, me, and then Scott.

"I can't fit through this little hole," Marie called out. "It's way too small f'me."

"No way. If Logan can fit through that, you surely can too," Bobby called out.

"Excuse me?" I asked and looked down at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" Bobby looked at me, rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Marie. I opened my mouth to say more but was stopped when I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned and faced Ororo.

"C'mon," Bobby called out and held his hands out. Marie started out head first, while Scott and Bobby held each arm as she tried to wriggle her way out…but true to her prediction, Marie got stuck from the back of her sweater.

"Why are you stopping?" Bobby asked as he tried to tug on Marie's arm.

"I didn't!" Marie called out. "I'm stuck. The glass caught onto something, it won't let go."

"Alright, just calm down," Scott said. "We'll pull you. Bobby you pull the other side."

"Okay, on my count," Bobby said. "1…2…3…" they pulled Marie's arms but stopped when she screamed.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" she shouted and placed her hands to her sides.

"C'mon Mar, just bare with it for a while, alright?" Bobby shouted back at her.

"The glass is cuttin' me!" Marie wailed—tears flowing down her face.

"Pull her out of there now!" Ororo called out. "I saw sparks, it's gonna blow!"

Bobby and Scott looked at each other one last time before nodding and looking at Marie. "Marie, you'll thank us later." Without any warning, Bobby and Scott forcefully pulled Marie out with loud grunts and groans. Marie screamed all the way but they took no notice of it.

All three of them dropped to the ground, panting heavily. I ran to Marie and picked her up while she grabbed her stomach, wincing in pain. "Run!" I yelled while we all ran towards a boulder Jean stood by. Scott ran behind me, pushing me all the way to run faster. Not a second after we made it there, the bus exploded into flames. Scott, who didn't quite manage to make it behind the boulder, dropped to the ground heavily from the force of the blast.

"Scott, are you okay?" Ororo called out as she and Jean came out from behind the boulder. Scott stirred, which sent relief to both women.

"Oh, my arm," Scott whined and held his arm out. His left arm was burnt, black soot covering edges from the seared skin. Raw, scorched skin revealing pure red blood.

"We need to get out of here. We need a doctor," Ororo called out but only received a look from Jean. "You know what I meant, Jean," she told Jean firmly. Soon after, we all broke into a staggering run away from the flames and smoke. Scott's eyes stung and his lungs raw and scorched, but still he ran for dear life.

"Wow, that could have been us," Bobby whispered to no one in general.

"That could have been me," Marie said and sighed heavily. "Thanks guys." Scott and Bobby nodded.

"Marie, I love ya and all," I started at her and rested my hands on my knees-taking a breather. "But do you have to wear so many clothes?" I asked. Everyone laughed as we all began to make our way into the woods—trying to find a way to the highway.

_Meanwhile, on the highway, three men were watching them closely. "They made it---now we have to stop them," Brad said with clenched teeth—his jaw tightening with every word spoken. "Boys…you know what we gotta do."_

--Four Hours Later--

"Okay, so tell me again why we're in the woods?" Jubilee asked while she tried to catch up with the rest of us. Thankfully for her, Marie tried just as hard.

"It's the only way to go," I called out as we all trudged in the knee deep snow—everything and anything now covered in snow.

"Why couldn't we have just stayed at the bus and waited for help?" she asked, almost annoyed.

"Did you, by any chance, see one single car pass us the whole time?" Scott asked firmly and almost asshole-ish. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly looked over at Scott and walked to him, giving him a nudge.

"You need you calm down, Scott. Everyone is a little freaked out right now, okay? So the last thing we need right now, especially these kids, is you jumpin' down their throat."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Logan," he told me, getting into my face slightly. Jubilee backed off and walked over to Jean. "I am calm!"

"Oh really?" I asked in disbelief and crossed my arms, and tilted my head to the side—raising my brows slightly. "I seriously doubt that."

"You know, you're beginning to sound like Xavier."

"Good. At least _one of us_ is soundin' like the adult here," I told him firmly. He turned and glared at me. "Oh, don't look at me like you're gonna do somethin' Scott."

"Oh c'mon Logan, we both know I can still kick your ass…especially with your condition of not being able t'heal."

"Oh, and what you gonna do, Scott? Huh? Are you gonna blast me away with the optic-rays you don't possess at the moment?" I asked him. Bobby snorted. "C'mon _Scotty, _take your glasses off," I dared him sarcastically. He shook his head in annoyance and scoffed. "Exactly, so get your ass in gear and calm the fuck down."

"Alright whatever. But can you guys at least slow down a bit? My shoulder is killing me. I think Rogue needs a breather too," Jubilee called out tiredly. Unlike the others, Jubes was only able to sling her backpack on her left shoulder.

"Marie, are you okay?" Bobby asked as he stopped and waited for her to catch up. Marie took notice and looked up at him and nodded slightly. "Did we hurt you on the way out?"

"Nah. I think I just got a little scratch here and there," Marie replied with a weak smile.

"And she cried like a baby," Jubilee added with a slight smirk.

"I did not cry!" Marie called out. I stopped walking, turned and faced them and rolled my eyes.

"Girls--" I started.

"Yeah, but you sure screamed like one!" Jubilee said.

"Try having glass poking and prodding at your stomach and then you tell me!" Marie fumed.

"Girls…" I called out louder and firmly.

"Try having your skin burned off and bleeding like hell!" Jubilee yelled back.

"Girls!" I yelled. They simultaneously jumped—startled--and looked at me and I walked over to them. "That is enough. I'm tired, weak and I don't need the two of you bickerin' like...like…"

"Me and you?" Scott added. I looked at him and he only chuckled his response. Bobby chuckled and I looked at him as well.

"Oh c'mon Logan. It was funny. I mean you two did just get into an argument not two minutes ago," he told me and shook his head. I pointed at him, trying to think of something to say—but failed miserably. Instead, I only walked away. "How deep are we anyway? What time is it?"

I sighed heavily and crossed my arms. "I think we're in the middle," I started and felt my head had begun to throb. "We should find a spot to spend the night. It's going to get dark soon," I said and stared up into what little sky I could see beyond the tall tree tops.

"It's gonna get colder," Marie called out and rubbed her arms. "I hope we have sweaters and stuff in the bags."

We all walked a little further on for the next fifteen minutes in complete silence before Scott stopped under a huge oak tree, setting his things on the ground. I watched as he began to push the snow out from under him to make a clearing and I decided to help. He looked at me with a weak smile and we both made a huge clearing for the seven of us. Then, Jean, Ororo, Scott and I began to find swigs to start a fire.

"We would'a been warmer if we stayed near the bus," Jubilee whispered to Marie. Marie chuckled—it hurt nonetheless, but she couldn't help herself.

The fire was up, thanks to my lighter. Thank God I smoked—right? Scott began to re-nurse Jubilee's wound. My head had gotten worse during the day but hadn't wanted to complain about it. I wanted to stay strong for everyone. Jean found a bottle of Purell in the First Aid kit and treated Scott's burn fairly well. Marie's bleeding forehead turned out to be a minor cut—much to everyone's relief.

"Alright, I've been thinking," Ororo started with a sigh. "I really don't think we should continue carrying these bags. They're only going to slow us down. I suggest we take only what's necessary."

Jean nodded and grabbed her bag. "Do you guys have sweaters?" Jean asked and looked at everyone. I looked and watched as everyone began digging through their packs.

"I do," Marie said and pulled out a pure white Nike sweater with a hoodie. Bobby pulled out his blue one and Jubilee her bright yellow sweater material jacket.

"I have some new socks, two pairs of pants and…well, my candy," Jubilee claimed happily. Everyone looked at her quizzically. "What?" she asked with a slight chuckle. "I gotta have my candy."

"It's cool, I got some bath towels from that hotel we stayed at," Bobby called out. Jubilee and Bobby high fived each other with a chuckle following.

"You guys do this often?" Jean asked sarcastically.

"Anytime we can," Bobby said honestly. For that, I gave him brownie points.

"Anyone got a drink?" Marie asked as she scrunched up her face. Everyone shrugged, shook their hands and mumbled a few words. After a few seconds, everyone turned their attention to me simultaneously.

I looked at everyone. "What?" I asked, raising my eyebrow and furrowed them slightly.

"You gotta drink, Log?" Scott asked me and raised a brow. I knew he meant my alcohol too. "I know you got somethin' in there."

"Damn skippy I got somethin' in my bag, but she ain't gettin' none."

"Why not?"

"She's too young!" I called out. "Besides aren't you the one who'd usually threaten to kill me for givin' a kid alcohol?"

"It'll keep me warm," Marie interrupted.

"No."

"C'mon Logan…just one sip."

"It's only going to dehydrate you, Marie. No. I'm not even gonna drink it," I told her firmly. Even though I would love to get drunk and not feel this throbbing head of mine. Scott glared. "I'm serious. Get a lollipop or something to water up your mouth." Marie looks at Jubes.

"Oh man," Jubilee whispered and fiddled around in her back for a lollipop. Bobby and Marie all scooted closer together and munched on some candy.

"What?" I asked as I noticed everyone kept their eyes on me.

"Well?" Jean called out.

I raised my eyebrows and shook my head in annoyance and confusion. "Well what?"

"Why aren't you emptying your pack?" Jean asked me, almost defensively.

"Maybe because I don't want to," I told her and leaned back on the tree trunk, crossing my arms. "Just because 'Ro thinks it's a good idea to empty out our bags, doesn't mean _I have_ to."

"It'll slow us down," Jean called out firmly.

"Especially your old ass," Scott muttered.

"I'm sorry, but just because you guys can't handle your bag, doesn't mean I can't handle mine. Don't get mad because I ain't emptyin' my shit and just leavin' it out here," I told her firmly.

"Do you have to be such a douche, Logan?" Scott asked me. I looked at him.

"I wasn't being a douche, _Scooter…_I was being firm. There is a difference."

"No, you were clearly bein' a douche and I would appreciate it if you didn't talk to them that way…especially my wife."

"Oh wait…" I started and repositioned myself against the tree trunk. "…so, I can't be a douche and insult you, but you can insult me?"

"When did I insult you?" he asked me.

"You called me a douche, then before that you said I my pack'll slow me down because of 'my old ass'."

"Logan, you are old," Ororo told me. I looked at her and she held her hands up in defense. "Hey, don't get mad because I'm just stating a fact."

"Alright you guys," Jubilee called out as she stuffed a lollipop in her mouth. "Stop bickering…please. We need to pull ourselves together and get along."

"Yeah, I mean this is the third fight in less than an hour," Bobby called out and scoffed in annoyance. "I mean seriously…" he started and gestured towards Scott and I. "You two are actin' more like kids than us. And we _are _kids."

"Jubilee and Bobby are right," Marie agreed. Bobby nodded his head and slowly shoved a lollipop in his mouth. "You two need t'get a grip." I sighed heavily and glanced down at Scott and rolled my eyes in defeat.

Scott sighed heavily and poked and prodded at the ground with a large stick. "Did anyone at least bring real food?" Scott asked—trying to change the subject. Even though he was being the douche, I gave him half a brownie point.

"I only brought sweets, if that counts," Jubilee said and showed us her bag packed full of assorted flavored candies, chocolates, etc. Sugar rush…that's her alright.

"These'll only make us thirsty," Jean sighed.

"At least chocolate tastes good," Bobby remarked.

"Why are we so concerned about food anyhow? It's not like we're gonna get stuck out here for days, right?" Jubilee asked and looked over at me and Scott.

"Who knows, Jubes," Scott sighed. "We can't even remember which town we're in right now—if we can call it that in the first place."

"Don't say that, Scott," I told him. "We're gonna get outta here, trust me," I reassured him.

"How can you be so sure, Logan?" he asked me.

"I lived in Canada. 'Nough said."

"Yeah, but that was Canada. You knew where you were going then. We don't even know what state we're in right now."

"Deep shit is what we're in," Bobby whispered. Everyone looked at him. "I mean…I…I'll shut up now."

"How come none of us remembered a cell?" Marie sighed and rummaged through her bag and found no such item.

"It's no use. It's not going to work out here," Ororo replied. "We're too far out."

"I don't carry one anyways," I mumbled with a shrug and a sigh.

"Yes Logan, believe me…we know this already," Scott muttered. I looked at him.

"Seriously? Do you seriously have to bring that up?" I asked him and shook my head in annoyance.

"I didn't bring it up, Logan. You brought up the fact you don't carry 'em."

"I stated a fact," I told him firmly. "There is a difference. Trying to start something is completely different than just stating a fact."

"Well," Bobby started out, which caused Scott and I to not fight. "I don't think Jubes should carry a bag on her shoulder…so why don't we at least take out the things we don't need, and put 'em in Scott's bag?"

Marie took out her Linkin Park CD and CD player and put it in the bag. Jean took out a few pictures she took from the trip and reluctantly put them in Scott's bag. "I don't wanna do this."

"I hear ya," Jubilee said as she left behind a few personals. Ororo took out a small camcorder and placed it in Scott's pack. "You sure about that, 'Ro? We could be the new Blair Witch if you run that thing the whole time," Jubilee joked.

"Those kids didn't have a happy ending, Jubes," Ororo called out.

"Oh…yeah," she said and sighed. "I forgot about that part."

"Yeah, if I ever see little stick people hanging from trees…I'll literally piss myself," I called out. "That movie sucked anyhow. It wasn't even scary."

"Oh c'mon!" Jubilee called out. "It was a good movie."

"Oh c'mon! I'd rather---" I started and looked around, trying to think of something more creative than watch The Blair Witch Project. "Well, I can't think of anything creative at the moment…but my point is, the movie sucked."

Scott sighed heavily, pulled out his PDA organizer and gazed at it. He shook his head and sighed again. "I practically spent a fortune on this little guy…"

I looked towards him and glanced down at the organizer and snatched it from him and shoved it in the bag. "C'mon Scotty, we're in the woods. What the hell are you gonna do with an organizer?" I asked and shook my head. "Oh wait, I know…you can keep little notes on how many different types of trees you see," I suggested sarcastically.

"C'mon guys," Jean called out. We all looked at her. "Let's not get our hopes up. We'll just bury the bag and when this is all over, we can always come back for it all."

"You're actually suggesting we come back here for this stuff?" Jubilee asked and raised an eyebrow. She took out her lollipop and scoffed. "Yeah right…count me out."

"Think about it Jubes, it'll be like a treasure hunt. It'll be fun. Besides, we'd be in better conditions than we're in now," Marie explained and grabbed a Tootsie Roll from Jubilee's bag, and popped it in her mouth.

"Well, I don't know about the rest o'you," I started and leaned back, placing my cowboy hat over my eyes. "But I'm beat. G'night," I grunted and sighed heavily.

"I think we should sleep close together so we can share body heat—especially in this kind of weather," Scott suggested as he and Jean scooted closer together.

"Yeah, if you seriously think I'm lyin' beside you---you gotta 'nother thing comin'," I grunted and chuckled in a slight scoff and shook my head.

"Logan…just shut up and go to sleep," Jean told me as she and Ororo cuddled closer with Scott while Marie and Bobby slept together. I, on the other hand, was stuck with Jubes. Why _her_ I'm not real sure. I'd rather sleep beside Ororo. But…this is called survival, and y'gotta do what y'gotta do…right? "Logan?" Jubilee whispered in my ear.

"What?" I mumbled and adjusted my position, resting my hand on Jubilee's warm arm.

"Your head's bleeding again."

-----

"_Your head's bleeding again."_

I furrowed my eyebrows and didn't want to believe my head had begun bleeding again. But the pounding in my chest made me think otherwise. I also felt the throbbing in my head and the slight moisture running slowly through my hair. I reached back and placed my hand to the wound and felt the blood. _My blood._ I began breathing heavily and that was when I felt the fainting coming along. Everything just seemed to be dancing around me—making me dizzy. And before I knew it—I blacked out once more…

When I woke up, I looked around, only finding Scott and Bobby huddled up on either side of me while the girls slept in a tight huddle. I hated to admit it, but Scott's body heat helped out quite a bit—while _Iceman_ over here on my left did absolutely nothing for me. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Marie sitting against a tree trunk, rocking back and forth.

"What the hell are you doin'? I asked and sat up. "It's freezin' out here. You should be sleeping," I said and found myself shivering terribly. Sad thing was, Canada snowed worse than this. My head throbbed in protest to it all. I shouldn't even be talking right now with the condition my head is in.

"No, I'm alright," she told me—staring straight ahead. "I'm just…keepin' watch, is all."

I chuckled in a scoffing matter. "Seriously?" I asked her and she looked over at me. "Marie, you're keepin' watch like there's…bears on the loose or somethin'," I told her and shook my head. "Come back to bed." I offered her towels.

"No, Logan, I'm not cold. I'm fine," she told me firmly. "You need them more than I do. I can't sleep anyhow," she told me and sighed heavily. "And please don't feed my imagination; it's already wild as it is."

I rolled my eyes and groaned in annoyance. "Marie—" I started and sighed heavily. "Trust me, there's no wild animals around here," I told her firmly. "C'mon down here. We'll share the warmth." After a few moments of looking down at me, Marie nodded and squeezed her way in between Bobby and I and lay down. I thought I saw her wince, as if it took immense energy just to lie down. But it was dark and I'm suffering from an intense headache I can't heal from.

I lay down fully beside Marie and watched as she readjusted herself several times to get comfortable. She cleared her throat every once in a while and sighed several times. The towel we shared barely covered the both of us, and she ended up taking more than half, and just as soon as her head reached the ground comfortably, she fell asleep. I couldn't help but notice the extreme heat from her body when her arm accidentally brushed against mine. I sat up (with great difficulty) and placed my hand on her forehead. She was practically sweating.

I furrowed my eyebrows and rested my hand on her waist, giving it a slight shake. "Rogue," I whispered out to her, but got nothing I return. "Marie, I think y'gotta fever—"

"Logan," Marie started. "I'm fine, just sleep," she mumbled with her eyes still closed.

"No, I'm not gonna just sleep and ignore it," I told her firmly. "You're shiverin'," I whispered loudly while touching her hand. "C'mon, I'm serious—you're burnin' up."

"Logan," She called out and looked up at me. "I'm just tired and the snow is makin' me shiver. Just sleep, okay?" She yawned and closed her eyes again.

I sighed heavily, shook my head, and wanted to argue more with her—but the throbbing in my head made me lay back down. Slowly, but I did nonetheless. I looked around and tried to listen to my surroundings around me to fall asleep to, but all I heard was the throbbing.

----

"Logan, wake up!" Ororo called out. I woke up, opening my eyes slowly, and found the beaut hovering over me. I furrowed my eyebrows. "You look...terrible."

"Well," I grumbled. "Good mornin' t'you too, sweetheart," I snorted and sat up slowly. I winced in pain and placed my hand to my head and sighed heavily.

"How's your head?"

"Terrible, thanks for asking," I said sarcastically and looked up at her. "How's Marie?" I asked and watched as she and Jean changed Jubilee's shoulder bandage.

"She's fine. It's Jubes we gotta look after," Ororo told me and crossed her arms. She turned her attention to me. "Why?" She asked and raised an eyebrow.

I stood up and walked to Ororo. I glanced down at Marie before returning my glance back at 'Ro. "Last night, Marie said she wasn't cold, and her body was burning to the touch, but she couldn't stop shakin'," I explained in a whisper.

"She didn't complain any," Ororo told me with a slight shake of her head. "As long as she's strong enough to walk on her own, she'll be fine."

I nodded, but that didn't make my worries go away any. I sighed heavily, crossed my arms and glanced down at Marie and watched as she helped out Jean. "How's Jubes holdin' up?" I asked and glanced back at Ororo.

"She's holding up," she told me with a shrug. "She's complaining about the pain, but that's kind of expected. Luckily for her, the wound isn't infected, thanks to the First Aid box Scott found," Ororo told me with a small smile. "We only have little doses of supplies in there, so we can't attend to our wounds every time we stop…so we'll have to do with what we have every so often."

"Hey Logan," Jean called out. I turned to her, as did Ororo. "I think it'd be good if we bandaged up that head of yours," she told me. "It'll stop the bleeding."

"Don't worry 'bout me, Jean. I'm fine for now. Jubes needs the gauze more than I do," I told her firmly and sighed heavily. "Just give it a good cleanin' and I'll be fine."

----

It was an hour or so of walking in the snow covered woods, realizing we haven't found a way out. My head was killing me, the cold was getting to me, but I was still able to walk. The only thing that _really_ bugged me was Marie's little episode last night. She was burning to the touch and now she looked and acted like nothing ever happened to her. I mean, she staggered here and there, but that's kinda expected. I had a feeling Marie was trying to hide what she felt and how she felt about it. If so, she's doin' one hell'uva job---but I know there's somethin' up.

Scott stopped, which caused me to bump into him, due to the fact I was long lost in my thoughts about Marie. "What the hell, Scott?" I asked, annoyed.

Scott held his hand up and narrowed his eyes. "You hear that?" he asked and looked over at me. Of course, out of instinct, I listened carefully and sniffed the air, but sensed nothing. I sighed heavily and shook my head. I had only hoped this cure would go away, and go away as soon as possible. "It sounds like footsteps."

"Well, why are we whispering?" Jubilee asked firmly. "It could be help," she started and started to walk towards the noise but I stopped her, grabbing her wrist tightly.

"What are you doing?" She asked me and tried to free from my grasp but I only held on tighter.

"It could be a bear," Marie called out jokingly. I chuckled and everyone looked at us as though we were crazy. "Joke. You know like…funny, ha-ha?"

"Wait," I whispered and everyone looked up at me. I looked around and glanced over at Scott, and that was when I heard the first sparks explode. It sounds like firecrackers at first, but after a second or third shot, I realized it came from a gun—or two—maybe even three. "Run!" I yelled and in our panic, we all took off in separated directions. I found myself with Jubilee and Ororo, hiding behind a huge tree trunk.

"Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my God…" Jubilee cried. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to me and glanced at Ororo. "What the hell was that?" Jubilee asked and looked up at me. "Logan?" she called out.

"Yoo-hoo!" A voice called out. At first I jumped, not expecting it. My grip became tighter around Jubilee and I grasped Ororo's hand. "C'mon out you pansy bastards! We know you're in here!" I recognized that voice. That was the son of a bitch who hit me—Mark.

My breathing became heavy and I was full of rage. All I wanted to do to that asshole was pop a claw in his ass and see how he fuckin' liked it…but I knew the consequences. "Oh my God," Ororo whispered and covered her mouth as tears instantly formed in her dark brown eyes. She turned to me, eyebrows furrowed tightly. "It's them," she told me. "Logan, why are they after us?" she asked and I turned my attention to her.

"We survived the crash, 'Ro. They want us dead," I whispered to her firmly. Yeah, yeah I know…not the most consoling thing to say to someone. "We're the witnesses to their crime."

Jubilee pulled away from me and peered past the tree and looked back at me. "We gotta get back to the others," she whispered. "Jean and Scott ran just behind that tree trunk of there," she pointed out. I looked in the direction of Jubilee pointed in and saw Scott's bright ass red shirt and sighed heavily.

"Jubes, we can't just run for it," I told her firmly, due to the fact I'm not bulletproof anymore. "I got the cure. I'm an old man who can die from a gunshot wound. And you want me to just run for it?" I asked her and raised my trademark eyebrow.

"Then what do you think we should do, Logan?" Ororo asked me and crossed her arms. "Jubilee is right. We can't just sit here and hope those men leave. They might find the others. We have to go to them, now."

I hated the plan. It sucked. But…we ran like we've never run before. We looked like three athletes on a relay race, and Ororo was winning, Jubilee was in second, and I…well…felt like the fat kid in the back. I heard bullets speeding passed us, missing us by the margins. As I ran, I became more and weaker as the seconds passed. That's when I think I started to mumble some prayers. I if did, I sure as hell don't know what they were. Jubilee's however, were much more recognizable.

"Oh God!" Jubilee shouted as she saw the bullets race either just in front of her on a tree nearby, past her, or either hit the ground just under her running feet. See, her prayers kind of work.

"Watch out for that hole!" Ororo called out in the front.

"Wha—Ahh!" It was too late. I didn't see it coming. Sure I heard Ororo's warning, but I didn't think I was _that_ close to the damn thing. It wasn't that deep of a hole, but it hurt nonetheless. It was big enough for a full sized man to fall through and trust me—deep enough to cause you problems. I fell and my worked entrapped me in darkness. Yet again.

----

Scott always hated being separated from the others during missions. Thankfully his wife was with him, hiding behind a tree. He was obviously in pain and he secretly prayed it wasn't a bullet that caused it. "Jean, are you hit?" he asked while he kept his eye on their surroundings.

"My leg," Jean whimpered and pointed at her right calf. "The bullet skid against my leg, but nothing too serious," she said and sighed heavily. "I'll be okay."

"Oh God," Scott called out as he looked at his wife's leg. He opened his mouth to say more but was silenced the moment he heard voices calling out for them. "Who is that?" he asked and furrowed his eyebrows tightly.

"Scott," Jean whispered. "It's those men again." They heard urgent footsteps running toward them and suddenly were reunited with Jubilee and Ororo. Scott felt safer, but then he remembered me.

He looked at Jubilee and Ororo. "Where's Logan?"

Ororo rested her hand on her chest and tried to catch her breath. "He fell into some sort of hole in the ground. I—I don't know what happened to him," she stammered breathlessly and sat down.

"Is it deep?" Jean asked, trying not to let her emotions get the better of her.

"Logan's a good six foot three and he fell all the way down…" Jubilee started and glanced up at Jean. "So yeah, I guess it is pretty deep."

"We have to go out there and get him before—" Jean started but was stopped when Scott quickly placed his hand over Jean's mouth, gesturing her to be quiet. She nodded.

"Listen," he whispered.

"_There's no way he'll survive that fall,"_ Brad explained. "_Especially after what you did to his head on the bus,"_ he said, gesturing towards Mark.

"_Yeah. He's gone. There's no way he'll survive this shit since after I have him the cure. This fucker is so dead,"_ Mark called out with a chuckle. _"I mean look at 'em. He hit his head hard. There's blood everywhere."_

"_Alright guys. Let's not waste our time with this asshole. He's already gone. We should find the others and kill 'em,"_ Brad demanded. Ted and Mark nodded in agreement.

"_Hey, you guys think this Furball's got some good shit in his bag?"_ Mark asked, peering into the hole. Brad walked over, smacked Mark in the back of the head, causing Mark to lose grip of his gun and it falling into the hole.

"_Seriously? Think about what the fuck you're sayin' Mark! If you go in there, you're not comin' out. So if you were smart, you'd stop fuckin' around,"_ Brad hissed.

"_Thank you, Capn'-know-it-all! Now I have no gun!" Mark cursed._

"_Keep your God-damned voice down, Mark. Besides, you don't know how to use a gun anyway. You're not really man enough to kill someone."_

Scott's eyes widened and he covered his mouth slightly with the tips of his fingers. "Oh my God…"

"He's dead," Ororo whispered in a slight cry. She wiped her tears quickly and inhaled then exhaled deeply. "Okay, shh. We can't let them know we're here," she whispered to herself in general.

"You don't know that, 'Ro," Scott called out, grasping tightly onto her arms. "Those guys don't even know if he's dead. Logan could be just passed out for all we know."

"You don't know that, Scott," Ororo said as a tear rolled down her cheek. "You can't say anything if you don't know the truth."

Bobby and Marie reunited with the others and sighed heavily. "We have to get out of here," they said in unison.

"No, wait," Jubilee called out and shook her head. "We have to go back and help Logan."

"You heard what those men said, Jubilee," Bobby called out. "Logan's dead."

"Listen to me," Scott called out furiously. "Logan is not dead," Scott started, glancing at everyone one at a time. "I won't let him die."

Ororo sighed heavily and hung her head low, tears flowing. "Scott's right," she started and looked at Bobby, and then the others. "We'll come back for Logan."

"You promise?" the kids asked simultaneously.

Ororo, Scott, and Jean nodded. "We promise."

----

Marie knew their lives were in danger and she too knew that they had to get out of there before the bad guys found them. She knew that if they didn't---she would get her family in trouble. But part of her wanted to stay. Part of her wanted to go back to Logan and check if her best friend was still alive. To Marie, they were going back on their promise. They were supposed to stick together through thick and thin no matter what. Now---they are about to leave one of their beloved family members behind. Betrayal is a cruel thing.

Part of Marie listened as Ororo and Jean gave their instructions. Part of her was aware that danger is lurking in every hidden corner of the forest and should she halter back, it would consume her whole. But another part of her was envisioning Logan in the hole—still bleeding to death.

Marie tried to keep up with the others, not knowing where they were heading and not caring. She had decided she would let the others worry about that. She didn't hear anyone chasing them in the back. She hoped the bad fellas were too wrapped up in their argument on whether Mark was a good shooter or not and hoped they didn't take notice of their escape.

The pain in her stomach was rebelling against her decision to quicken up her pace. It felt like sharp pins poking and prodding her from the inside (with every move she made), forcing its way out through the skin. She knew she was burning up, even in this freezing weather, and she knew that she wasn't well. But denial was an easy game for her. Denial was the key to hoping Logan wasn't dead too.

They had been running and walking for more than an hour and Jubilee was truly tired. She was sure the others were too, judging by how slow they were walking (especially Jean with her new gunshot wound. As usual, Jubilee and Marie were struggling to keep up in the back, while Ororo and Scott directed the way. Jubilee knew that Marie was still distraught over Logan. She had been too, but she knew that showing emotions at a time like this wouldn't help anything. Jubilee was always the cheery one. Always trying to make people smile, and she tended to stay that way. At least by doing that, she could push the ugly images of Logan sprawled out and bleeding in a pit away to the back of her mind.

"Guys, can we rest? I can't go any further," Marie called out in the back. She kept stumbling and Jubilee would stop and wait for her. It's not like Jubilee minded at all, she actually appreciated the occasional stops.

Jubilee's heart went out to her. She sounded genuinely scared. "I really need to change this," Jubilee called out—referring to her bandage. "Also, Marie's getting pale. She looks like shit ran over twice."

"I'm too tired for this." Marie sighed and sat down, giving up on the whole walking thing. Bobby secretly thought that he wouldn't know what to do without Marie. He loved her and always has.

"C'mon Mar, just a few minutes more," Bobby called out tiredly. "I can't find a clearing for us to rest. This place is too wet and slippery."

Although Marie hadn't wanted to get back up…at all…none of them disagreed. Jubilee was unsure of how long she would last with the pain throbbing the way it had in her shoulder. It felt as if it mutated itself. Then, she felt guilty after remembering Logan. He wasn't that bad after all.

She noticed that Marie has been stumbling too often. It's like she couldn't walk a straight line anymore. Jubilee stopped and lifted Marie to her feet and they linked arms and kept moving forward. But when Marie stumbled again and started crying, Jubilee panicked. Jubilee never saw Marie lose control in such a way where it scared her. It had been a long time since she last saw Marie cry—if any at all. But now, Marie was down on her knees and sobbed like a small child who couldn't find her mother. Jubilee suddenly froze, not knowing what to do. "What's wrong, Mar?" She knelt down beside her and gently rested her hand on Marie's back, giving it a gentle rub.

"Mar, are you okay?" Scott asked as he came back and knelt down, resting his hand on Marie's shoulder. "Is your stomach hurting again?"

"I can't go on!" Marie cried. "It hurts too much."

"Marie," Jean started and walked closer to her. "We found a clearing right over there. We'll help you walk okay?" Marie nodded. Scott lent his shoulder for support and the gang walked on while Marie had her left hand clutching at her stomach.

Scott and Bobby walked Marie to the clearing, feeling guilty for forcing Marie from the windshield even when the young woman protested against it. True to her words, Jean got them to the clearing in less than five minutes. There were snow covered bushes surrounding them so they could hide. "Here, let me take a look at it," Jean said. Marie didn't argue. She looked too spaced out, as if she were too scared to move. "Where does it hurt?" Ororo sat beside Jean, curious about her student. Marie pointed at the right side of her abdomen.

Jean pulled the shirt up carefully and was shocked at the discovery. Marie had black and blue bruises covering the entire right side of her ribs. It was also swollen. That was when Jean though it was the first time Marie saw the bruises as well, due to the fact she looked just as shocked at the result. "What the—"

"I think you broke a few ribs, Mar."

"Broken ribs?" Marie asked and shook her head sadly. "I'm gonna die, aren't I?" she cried.

"Hey hold up a sec, darlin'," Scott called out—sounding almost like Logan (and realizing it). "Nobody's talkin' about dyin' here. Not while I'm around. You just broke some ribs. Some people break their legs, you broke ribs. You're gonna be alright. Just a little uncomfy."

"Why don't you lie back down? Maybe it'll feel better?" Bobby suggested.

"No. If I move it only hurts worse. I'll just sit here," Marie muttered and sighed heavily, and even that caused her to grimace.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Scott cried as he ran his fingers through the brunette's streaks, which were damp from the sweat.

"It's not your fault, Scott," Marie told Scott, her eyes closed.

Scott scoffed in reply and nodded his head. Marie opened her eyes and furrowed her brows tightly. "Yeah it is. We pulled you even when you told us to stop," he pointed out and shook his head. "How is that not my fault?"

"If you and Bobby didn't pull me out of the bus…I'd be dead right now. Besides, the pain was there way before that."

"What?" Jean asked and furrowed her eyebrows tightly. "What do you mean, 'the pain was there way before that'?" she asked.

"When the bus was crashing, I fell off the bunk. I landed in a weird position and heard something crack once I landed—but passed out immediately after, so I wasn't really able to figure out what cracked," Marie called out and sighed heavily, but slowly—thinking it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Jean asked, crossing her arms.

"Think about it, Jean. There wasn't much you'd be able to do anyhow. That and I didn't want Logan to worry—mainly because he's already in a bad condition as it is."

"Damn," Bobby called out, rubbing his hands together, breathing into them to warm them. "It's getting colder every minute," he pointed out, and rocked back and forth.

"Hey _Iceman_," Jubilee started. Everyone looked at her. "Aren't you supposed to be able to handle the cold?" she asked with a wink. Everyone chuckled. "Besides, I think Marie needs another sweater."

"We all need another sweater, but all we have are these towels," Ororo said and held up a few white towels. "They're not gonna do much for us," Ororo pointed out and set the towels back down.

---

"That's the last piece," Jean said as she pulled out a small piece of glass from Ororo's back. "Or what I can see in the dark."

"Great, I can't take this cold anymore," Ororo called out and pulled down her sweater.

Bobby came back to the group and sat down beside Marie. "Can't you change the weather?" he asked quietly as he shivered.

"No," Ororo said sadly and shook her head. "That bastard gave me the cure just after he gave it to Logan." She cleared her throat and wiped her mouth. "And just after he kissed me…" Everyone hung their heads low. "If I ever get my hands on him…" she started with full fury. "I'll rip his freakin' balls off."

"What about you, Scott?" Bobby asked. "Cant you just blast those guys away?"

"No, Jean and I got the cure just before Logan."

"Then why are you wearing your glasses?" Jubilee asked.

"They're like….a security blanket," Scott blushed, thankfully no one saw it. Slowly, he reached up, grabbed his glasses and pulled them off—his eyes shut. "I'm opening them." Slowly, he opened his eyes—and nothing happened. "Wow."

---

It was already seven in the evening and the air was getting colder. Jubilee was fast asleep and last time Ororo checked, she began to slowly develop a fever. The wound became infected but they had to water to clean it up, except for the solution they found in the First Aid kit. "We all should sleep now we'll be too tired to walk tomorrow. Why don't you sleep first while I take the first watch?" Ororo suggested.

"No. I'll take the first watch, I can't sleep," Marie interrupted while she sat under the tree with Jubilee to her left.

"But you took the first watch last night," Jean pointed out. "You need to sleep."

"But I can't sleep, Jean. It would be useless to have two of us keep watch simultaneously. I promise I'll wake one of you if I get tired," Marie protested.

"Is it the pain in your stomach?" Bobby asked, concerned. "You should tell one of us if it gets too much."

"I'm fine, Bobby," Marie lied with a weak smile. "I promise."

Deep down Bobby knew the reason why Marie couldn't sleep was because of Logan. The man was like a father to her, and now he lay in a pit in the middle of nowhere with a drastic head injury and possibly dead. Bobby tried to reassure his fiancé, but deep down inside, he had no idea what fate had in store for his professor.

"Alright, but wake us up when you're tired," Bobby reminded her.

"Yes sir," Marie mocked and sighed heavily.

"You know, if you weren't so sick right now and we weren't lost in the middle of no where and my shoulder wasn't all messed up…I would have personally loved to carry you and throw you off a cliff," Jubilee hissed.

"Yeah me too," Bobby agreed.

"Uh-huh…sure," Marie said with a slight sad chuckle. She listened while Jubilee and Bobby muttered something under their breath and collapse next to Ororo. Within seconds, she could hear everyone's soft snores. "Logan--" she whispered sadly.

-----

Jubilee stirred in her sleep, disturbed by the constant coughing that was growing louder every second, it seemed. She tried to drain the obnoxious noise but her attempt failed. Giving up at last, she woke up with a loud sigh. Her body trembled involuntarily, even though she lay beside Scott (who was rather warm). Her throat felt sore and she instantly knew she was slowly developing a fever. "Sorry, did I wake you?" Marie asked in between coughs. Jubilee looked up at her where Marie still sat. She looked terrifyingly pale and her lips were bluish. The night wasn't that dark after all.

"Wow, Mar," Jubilee started and sat up, making sure not to twist or bump anything with her shoulder. "You don't look so hot. Are you okay?" She whispered, not wanting to wake the others.

"I'm fine," Marie said as her teeth chattered. "Just cold." Marie trembled. Jubilee then realized she has the towels to herself. She took some of the towels, sat next to Marie and covered them up with what little warmth the towels would provide. "You're warm. Do you have a fever?"

"Yeah, probably," Jubilee stammered under clenched teeth. "My shoulder is killing me."

"You can take some Tylenol Jean has stashed in the First Aid—"

"No, I'm fine," Jubilee dismissed as they huddled closer together.

"You could really use it, Jubes," Marie started. "If you get sick, the slower we'll move. We will only be more of a burden to Scott and the others."

"I don't want to eat anything right now, Mar. I'm fine," Jubilee called out, more firmly this time.

"Take the meds, Jubes…or ill force them down your throat," Marie called out and reached for Jean's bag and pulled out two tablets of Tylenol and some chocolate to down it with.

Jubilee sighed heavily and took the medicine and forced herself to eat a mouthful of chocolate. She looked over at Marie and gave a sarcastic smile. "Haffy?" she asked with the mouthful.

"I thought your mom taught you not to eat with your mouth full," Marie retorted. Jubilee chuckled and hung her head low. "You'll thank me later."

"Why are you trembling so much?" Jubilee asked as she noticed the uncontrolled shivering Marie possessed. "You feel like ice!" She whispered loudly.

"Cold weather does that to ya, J," Marie said with a forced chuckle. "I know we're still in school and everything but…that's just called common sense," she joked.

"You know what I mean, Rogue," Jubilee called out. "I'm worried about you. I can't have another of you guys leaving me—" she started but stopped herself in mid sentence. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up. I---I miss him too."

Marie cried slightly. "It's okay," she said but soon her crying only caused her to go into another one of her coughing fits. It sounded so serious; that it surprised Jubilee that neither Scott nor Jean woke up.

"Rogue---you alright, man?" Jubilee asked as she gently rested her hand on Marie's back. Marie waved her hand to show she was alright, but the coughing didn't convince Jubilee.

"I'm fine," Marie called out and cleared her throat. "It's just a—" she started but stopped herself when she tasted a thick, almost salty substance in her mouth. The one substance she dreaded to ever cough up. Blood.

"I'm gettin' Jean," Jubilee started and started for Jean but Marie stopped her. "What?"

"Please don't tell them, Jubilee," Marie pleaded. "They already have a shit-load on their hands and are worried about Logan. They don't need more to worry about."

"It's going to get worse, Marie. They have to know."

"I've been thinking about it and I think that we're slowing them down. We can hardly survive tonight, let alone another night if that. I have a feeling Logan is a lot worse," Marie said and wiped her hand with a handful of snow.

"You're tellin' me, you think Log's…dead?" Jubilee asked—tears slowly forming in her eyes.

"Who the hell are we kidding, J? You heard what those men said. He's bleeding, and not budging. With this weather, he's not going to make it. The man is at least three hundred years old and is getting older by the second," Marie firmly said. "The others aren't going to make it if we keep slowin' them down either."

"Where are you heading with this, Rogue?"

"Look, I know we've promised each other to stick together till the end and all of us would always protect one another…but the way I see it, that promise is long gone when we left Logan back there. We _left_ one of our men, Jubes. Rather than all of us die, I want Jean, Scott and Ororo to make it an'expose those bastards."

"So you're wanting to stay behind?" Jubilee asked. Marie nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Marie, but I can't just give up. I'm going to fight this thing and we will get out of here. We will get out of here, Marie. I promise you this."

"I'm just scared, Jubes," Marie cried. "I'm so scared."

"I know. I am too, kid," Jubilee said and sighed heavily. "I am too."

----

"This is fucked up man!" Mark started out. "It's been two days. I'm hungry and cold. I want to get outta this place and spend some money," he complained as he staggered along, trying to keep up with Brad and Ted. Winter was just around the corner and they weren't even properly dressed for it. But then again, none of them had planned on a trip through the forest. Mark, for one, had planned on leaving the country and moving to Mexico.

"Yeah Brad," Ted agreed. "We should just get outta here. Those fools aren't gonna make it anyhow. Especially the little Asian girl. Did you see her shoulder?" Brad stopped in his tracks, slowly turned around, and started at his accomplices.

"I will not leave until I kill them myself. If they survive, we will be on the front page of ever single newspaper in this country. We don't want that to happen, now do we?" Brad hissed. He had been very patient with the other two whining all day.

"No, Brad, we don't want that to happen," Ted said firmly. "But those freaks aren't gonna survive. And you know what, if we don't get outta here, we won't make it either. The last time we saw them, they didn't look too good. Hell, they were even going the wrong direction! The highway is back there!"

"Yeah," Mark muttered.

"Fine, but let me tell you somethin'," Brad called out and stepped closer to Mark and Ted. "You won't get the remaining Million bucks they took from us," Brad said coolly. Mark and Ted's eyebrows both rose. Their eyes full with greed. Smirks slowly formed their way across their lips and their energy suddenly renewed.

"Million bucks?" Mark and Ted both asked.

"The bag that Donny was carrying. Since he's dead, we are going to have his share. Or at least I will if I get the bag back," Brad said and flashed his trademark devilish grin.

"So wait, you're telling me, those assholes have our money on them?" Mark asked. Brad noticed. "But how do you know that they truly have the money?"

"Did you two bother take notice at all of the packs they were carrying?" Brad asked. Mark and Ted shook their head, which only caused irritation to Brad. "One looked suspiciously heavy."

"Dammit Brad!" Ted called out. "For all we know it's with that stinkin' Furball!"

"No, it's not with him. _His_ bag is too light; besides, would you let someone with a cracked head carry your money? Damn, how idiotic are you?" Brad mocked.

"Alright then," Mark started. "Since you're so much smarter---who has the money?" he asked, challenging him.

"The Ni—" Brad started but Mark cleared his throat. "_Black woman_," Brad called out. "She's not too badly hurt and she's strong. She has it."

"I hope you're right Brad. You know we're going to be totally screwed if you're not," Ted replied.

"Don't you worry boys," Brad started and crossed his arms. "The only ones getting fucked….are them."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Alright, let's make a list, shall we? One, I got hit in the head till I was unconscious. Two, I fall down at least two stories high in a bus. Three, try surviving without food, water, or proper shelter in a forest for the past two days. Four, surviving the ever decreasing temperature and last but not least, falling into a pit about a mile deep.

Check. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Am I Dead or Alive? Unsure.

Test: Give a little touch to the back of the head.

Result: Oww! Dammit! And other sounds associated with pure pain.

Final Verdict: _Barely_ Alive.

Only minutes ago I was struggling to hold onto whatever I could reach so that I wouldn't slip and fall back into the pit for what seemed like the hundredth time. I surprised myself with the will that I have left in me to make it out alive—due to the fact I am an old fart. Now that I did, I wish I had just stayed in there and died. No, I didn't mean that. Scratch that. I love my life. I hated it before, but love it now. And there must've been a reason why the big man upstairs didn't let me just sit and rot in there—or end my misery—or the atomic throbbing in my head.

Maybe I'm still alive. I really hope I am because I have to help the others, which I have no idea how to do. Due to the fact that I am extremely physically unfit right now. Or maybe it was the constant nagging I kept hearing somewhere deep inside of me shouting, "You can't die!" It's a mystery why our minds think of stupid shit when we're in the brink of death. Or maybe it's just me. Argh. I don't know. I don't want to think. I might blow a vein. Literally. All I know is, I woke up and found myself in the pit. For a few seconds there, I thought I was already dead and buried. But then flashes of what happened came back to me. And the bright morning sun glaring into my eyes helped too---well…not really.

Like the klutz that I am, I had fallen into the damned pit even when Ororo had warned us about it. I am so accident-prone. But that wasn't even the alarming part. My sweater was covered in blood and I thought I was going to die—still bleeding. But the bleeding had long stopped, only clots of dried blood patched on the enormous cut at the back of my head. I guess the cold weather froze it. Yeah, I don't know if that's a good thing. But hey…I'm still here. Right? Oh, and then there was the gun. Fully loaded, lying right next to me.

My pack was intact as well.

Usually I don't need to use guns to defend myself. What I had was my beautiful adamantium claws to keep my ass from dying. But no…that asshole, Brad, had to poke and prod me with the cure. And I promise you---when I get my hands on the son of a bitch---well, you get the point.

As of right now, I'm resting under this tree. Doesn't Matter what kind, really, just as long as it's strong enough to support my heavy three hundred pound ass. It had begun to snow lightly and the snowflakes dropped and rested on the glistening black gun. I held it near my mouth and licked them. The cold stung my bruised, cracked lips but moistened them in the process. I don't know where to go next. I don't know if I could even go on. Where is everyone? Are they safe? Do they think I'm dead?

As question after question started bombarding my twisted head, I drifted into an uneasy slumber.

----

"I don't think we should be making Marie walk with these ribs in the condition they're in, Scott. It's not good for her," Ororo called out as they all gathered their belongings.

"I know it's not good, 'Ro but I'm torn here. We have to get back to Logan."

"I know and I'm sure Marie would be more than happy to be reunited with him," Ororo started. "But she can't move. We can't force her to move, not in the state she's in."

Jubilee's fever went down just a little bit and she just woke up. "How about you and Jean go get Logan and the rest of us wait here?"

"No, we can't risk leaving you guys here either. What if those men find you guys?" Scott asked.

"We'll be fine. We'll go hide somewhere in the bushes and keep a look out," Jubilee said. "C'mon guys, you've done enough for Mar and I. Now keep the promise and get Logan back."

"I wish we could make it that easy but—"

"Scott, just go get Logan. I'm feeling better but not good enough to walk right now," Marie said in between gasping for air—due to the cold weather, everyone had trouble breathing.

"Hey, it's snowing," Bobby called out and cupped his hands, collecting the snowflakes. He put them to his mouth and 'drank' the flakes.

"Actually, you shouldn't really eat snow, Bobby," Jubilee said.

"No, Jubes, that's the yellow snow you don't eat."

"Oh…right. I knew that."

"Listen, it's going to be really cold soon," Jean started as she pulled her jacket closer. "Scott, let's go get Logan. He needs us more than anything."

"But baby--" Scott started. "If anything happened to these kids and Ororo…I couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to them."

"That's why you leave now and get to Logan and come back faster. You guys are able to move quickly. Once we're all reunited, we will find a way home, Scott. Please, trust me," Marie said as she stared into Scott's blue eyes.

Ororo turned her attention to everyone in the room and slowly turned it to Scott last. "C'mon Scott."

"Promise me you'll wait for us?" Scott cried.

"Promise me you'll get Logan?"

"Yes," Scott replied. "I will bring him back alive." And with that, Jean and Scott started on their journey back for Logan.

"Scott, wait!" Marie called out. Scott turned around and faced her. "Do something for me before you go?"

"Yeah, of course."

"If Logan is still alive, tell him I said 'thank you for everything'. He'll know what I mean. And, can you give him this? Read the last entry to 'em," Marie said and handed Scott her diary.

"What's this for?"

"Just make sure he reads the last entry once you get to him, okay? And if he didn't make it, can you read it to him? Please?" Marie asked, straining herself not to cough—knowing once she started, there's no stopping. She too knew Scott and Jean wouldn't go if they saw just what she coughed up.

Scott nodded his head, shoved the diary in the pocket of his pack and started to pull himself up. "I'm leaving the First Aid behind. Make sure you change your bandage and take some pills for the fever, alright?"

"Yeah," Jubilee said, trying not to cry too hard. "I'll miss you," She said and pulled Jean into a tightening hug.

"Hey, hey, hey," Jean called out in a whisper. "We'll only be gone for half the day. We'll be fine. We'll be back, so don't miss me too much," she joked.

"Listen Jean," Ororo started and walked over. "Just in case something happens to you guys before you get back to us---I want you to know that--"

"I love you too 'Ro," Jean cut in. "And I'm honored to have fought at your side."

"It's an honor to have lived at yours," Ororo cried.

"Hey, Scott," Bobby called out. "Worse comes to worse, I just want you to know that whatever happens to us isn't your fault."

"I love you, kid. You know that? All the lectures, scolding…it's just part of my-"

"I know, I know. I love you too. I could never ask for a better math professor to look out for me. You're the best, Cyk."

"Just…hang in there…okay? For me?" Scott reached down, pulled his student close to him and kissed the top of his head. Bobby felt the tremble of Scott's body as he cried, unable to hold it back; Bobby held on tightly and cried.

"I want you alive when you come back," Bobby demanded. "Promise me."

"I promise. Take care of my girls, okay?" Scott asked. Bobby nodded as he looked into Scott's eyes. "Promise me."

"I promise."

"I guess this is it then," Jean called out. "Take care you guys. Make sure you two don't go all crazy now and attract unwanted attention."

"Yeah, we can't promise you anything," the youngsters joked, flashing sly grins.

"Don't worry, these little monkeys ain't goin' nowhere," Ororo smiled. Slowly, Scott and Jean turned their backs on them and left. Marie watched while the two figured walked further until they were completely out of sight. Then, she found herself feeling more alone than before.

"They're really gone…" she muttered.

"Yeah," Jubilee muttered.

Marie had begun coughing yet again, only this time it got worse. When she actually did take a breath, Jubilee could hear gurgling sounds coming from her. She felt Marie grab onto her left arm tightly, pressing it down to her ribs. Jubilee wanted to scream in pain as it was straining her injured shoulder, but held it in. If that was what it took for Marie to get rid of some of his pain---Jubilee was there in a heartbeat.

As soon as it started, it stopped. But it felt like an eternity to Jubilee. Marie just laid there in a fetal position, regaining her breath and what little strength she had previously. "Take all the time you need, darlin'." She slumped next to Marie, eyes staring up ahead, looking out for the little view of the blue sky as snowflakes landed on her face. Slow death sucks.

--------

His body ached all over with bruises and cuts. His legs felt numb and yet he forced himself to trudge on—not wanting to disappoint the woman walking just a few feet ahead. Part of him was anxious to be reunited with his friend, and yet another was cursing, blaming him for leaving the others behind. _How could we end up like this?_ None of them were cut out to be a 'survival of the fittest'. Maybe Logan if he wasn't shot with the cure—but that didn't matter. Logan _was_ shot with the cure.

"Does this look like the right way?" Jean asked as she turned and gazed at Scott—her thoughts interrupted.

"Yeah. I've seen this bush before," Scott told her as he pointed at the small, rugged bush.

"Not to be, you know, the bad guy at a time like this but---aren't there a lot of rugged bushes in the forest?" Jean asked as she raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms.

Scott only shook his head, a small grin carved on his lips. "Thanks for that Jean," he muttered. He brushed his away the snowflakes from his eyelashes and shifted the bag on his shoulder and sighed heavily. "We have to find him fast. The snow is getting heavier," Scott said as he took a good look at his surroundings. Green bushes and trees were coated with a thick layer of snow, and puddle had turned to ice.

"Scott?" Jean asked and reached out for Scott's hand. Scott took a hold of her hand in return. "Isn't that the tree we hid behind?"

"Oh my God, it is!" Scott laughed.

"So that means the hole can't be far away, right?" Jean asked with slight laughter. Suddenly, all the pain has vanished.

----

"Damn, this is going to take longer than I though," Brad hissed as he stopped and exhaled deeply.

"I can hear the river from here. It ain't gonna be long," Mark replied excitedly.

"Yeah Brad. You saw their shit they left behind back there. We are definitely on the right track," Ted agreed.

"Listen," Brad started and hesitated before turning to the others. "I've made a big mistake."

"What are you talking about?" Mark asked.

"You two go on and go. I'm goin' back for the Furball," Brad called out.

"What?" Ted asked. "We've come this far and you're going to just stop and turn back? Are you trying to cheat us?"

"You son of a bitch!" Brad cursed loudly. "If you had a brain, you'd fuckin' use it!"

"Whoa, man…calm down—"

"If you were them, would you seriously leave your friend behind? I have a feeling at least one of them would try and go back and help his dead friend," Brad explained.

"Why the hell would someone want to help out a dead guy?" Mark asked.

"Because, Mark…they're naïve. They're stupid. They think their friend isn't dead," Brad pointed out.

"And you're goin' back?"

"Yes. We'd find 'em faster this way," Brad said with a nod.

"Yeah, I guess so," Mark said with a shrug.

"By seven tonight, I want you two to meet me at the highway again. You know how to get there from the river, right?" Brad asked.

"Duh. Give us some credit here, buddy. We practically grew up in this town," Ted said and sighed heavily. "We'll meet you at the highway."

"Alright. I'll see you guys with the money." Brad flashed his devilish grin and went off into the woods. _And maybe a killing or two. Damn, I love the rush!_

_----_

I had started walking about thirty minutes ago…but who's countin' right? Yes, I can still do that—even with this head injury. I amaze myself too. And frankly, I had no idea where the hell I was going. I must be pretty slow because, I can still see the pit from here. But, considering some screws were loose in my head and the entire traumatic event I've been through---I'm not doing bad at all.

I forgot where we were supposed to be heading, was it all the way to the left or the right? I was too dependent on Scott and Jean for directions. And now that I'm alone—I'm completely lost. So, I decided to take the right. No reasons really, just that my legs began walking in that direction.

My vision began to worsen as well. Everything I saw was extremely blurry, and then slowly, each and everything unit I looked at, became two. Funny thing was, if I put both hands in front of my face—I saw four of them. My neck became utterly sore, the adamantium skeleton began to weigh me down, and I could barely breathe.

The gun, however, never left my hand. It was, to me, really heavy but it was as though it were a guarantee that my life would be safe with it. _C'mon you big gorilla---get a grip on yourself._

Frankly, I'm beginning to give up. My legs gave out several times, and the cold had taken all the heat that was left in my body and any little hope left had been ripped out as well. I can't kid myself anymore. How could anyone in my condition find six other people? Or a way out for that matter. That's when those bastards popped into my throbbing head. They were so determined to kill each and everyone one of us. I can't quit. Not now. I have to keep my promises. What if no one made it? What if help came but assumed we all had perished together with the bus? What if-

"What the fuck was that?" I whispered to myself as I heard a slight shout in the distance. Am I delirious?

----

"We could just hang out here if you want. You don't look like you can handle the walk," Jubilee said after about fifteen minutes of just lying around doing nothing. She kept staring at the sky and listened to the rise and fall of Marie's irregular breathing. Time was catching up them all.

"No," Marie whispered. "When Jean and Scott come back with Logan we're going to have to walk nonetheless." She sighed. "Just…let me sit here a little longer—"

"Alright, that's it," Jubilee called out and quickly sat up, offering her hand to Marie. "I'm going to make you walk like you've never walked before," she said firmly. "It's gonna hurt like hell, but it's for the best. C'mon."

Marie winced in pain but forced herself to get on her feet. Jubilee saw the trail of blood that had trickled down her neck and shook her head. "First we need to clean up," Marie called out. "I don't want Ororo to worry."

Jubilee reached up, wiped the blood with the sleeve of her sweater and avoided the stain it left behind. Denial always works. She slide Marie's right arm across her shoulder and adjusted the new weight that heaved down on her. Her shoulder ached in protest but she had learned to ignore that long ago.

"Quit'ch your whinin'," Marie called out. "Leave that to me."

"You're just loving this right now, aren't you?" Jubilee said with a smile.

"C'mon, J, we have to have fun in times like this. I mean, think about it—this is like our last meal or something."

----

"Fuck!" Brad yelled as his wide eyes stared into the empty pit. His couldn't believe what he was seeing. The 'dead' man had disappeared. The 'dead' man isn't dead. Anger rose in him like never before. Even in the cold weather, he could feel the heat rushing up in every vein—boiling his blood.

_He's injured, he can't be far. _Brad thought as his eyes darted around the surroundings, scanning the area like an eagle looking for its prey. He could have fired his gun around him out of anger, but didn't. He underestimated his enemies---they weren't so gullible after all.

Brad sighed heavily and shoved his hands into his back pants pocket and started off when the sound of footsteps (or what he believed was footsteps) caused him to stop. He turned around and found nothing and/or no one and (making sure not to make too much noise) hid behind a tree next to the pit. _You better come out, Furball. This time, I'm gonna make sure I introduce you to my bullets properly._

Scott quickened his pace to catch up with Jean, who was practically running to the pit. He wondered where Jean had gained the renewed strength to run, but admired it deeply. Lately, his leg had started giving him problems, which meant running just might make matters worse. "C'mon Scott," Jean started. "Let's wake up Ol' Sleeping Beauty!" She cried out like an overexcited child in a candy store.

Scott smiled. Something he hadn't done in the past few days, but liked the warm feeling it provided. Scott studied the area instead of running, making sure that Jean didn't get too preoccupied and fall into the pit herself. Just when Jean was about a mile away from where the pit was located, he spotted a small black figure just behind a tree. Instantly, he became anxious—his heart beating wildly. _Logan!_ But when Scott gave that small moment of hesitation and gave a harder gaze, the figure seemed too short to being Logan. Scott strained his eyes as if he were in an action movie, where they made the hero run in slow motion. He hated it then, and hated it now.

Jean was overcome by shock. She stood on her ground when she saw Brad point the gun at her. By instinct, she'd stop him telekinetically but realized she couldn't this time. "Hey _Red_," Brad called out. Jean furrowed her eyebrows tightly. "I want you to say hello to my little friend."

"How original," she muttered and sighed heavily.

"Shut the fuck up!" Brad yelled and pointed the gun at her. Jean's breathing became abnormally quick as she swallowed the huge lump in her throat. The gun was shot and she could hear the stinging blast. Anytime now, and she'll be hit. Then something heavy pounced on her from the back, dragging her to the ground. She hit the ground hard with a loud grunt and felt the drastic stinging in her right leg and knew she'd been shot.

"Baby!" Scott cried out and placed his hands to Jean's leg, putting pressure on the wound. "Oh my God," he whispered. "We have to get out of here."

"You're not goin' anywhere until I get my money back!" Brad called out and cocked his gun one more time, aiming it at Scott's head.

"What money? We took no money from you people!" Scott yelled out, waving his arms like a mad man.

"Don't you play games with me, boy! You have no idea who you're messing with!" Brad yelled. "Give me my money, or the woman's dead."

"We don't have your fucking money!" Jean yelled. Scott turned to her—shocked at her profanity, but she paid no mind. "It's all burnt to a crisp with your little friend!"

"Show me your bags!" Brad yelled out. "Show me everything!" Jean threw him her and Scott's bags. "Open 'em! Now!"

Scott opened the packs and emptied them quickly, pouring everything into the snow. "There's your money!" he called out sarcastically, pointing at the contents of their bags. There was nothing but a few of their personal things.

"The others---where are they?" Brad asked.

"The other three got away. And the other, you can say hello to in there," Scott said sadly as he pointed at the pit.

"There's no one in there! Don't fucking lie to me boy!" Brad yelled furiously.

"What do you mean, there's no one in there?" Jean asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm about getting tired of your little attitude, woman!" Brad yelled out. "If you don't talk, you better say goodbye."

"Hey Bub." Brad froze. A gun cocked. "I'm not finished with you yet."

----

"C'mon Marie! Stop whining! We're walking and that's that!" Jubilee declared as she forced Marie to keep walking.

"No! Let me go!" Marie called out but didn't even fight back.

"No! You're walking, Marie. I'm not about to let you just give up!" Jubilee called out. "Don't be a wuss!"

"No need for the attitude, Jubilation! I'm stayin' put!" Marie argued.

"I'll pick your ass up and carry you myself if I have too, Rogue! You know I will!" Jubilee yelled out as Marie tried to walk on her own back to the camp site.

"You'll only hurt yourself more."

"I'll put up with it."

"If you're not gonna help, just shut up!" Marie called out.

"C'mon Marie. You're making way too much noise dragging your feet like that. Those bad guys are gonna hear you from miles away," Jubilee retorted.

"What are you talking about? I've not even started walking yet, crazy," Marie hissed.

"Then what the hell did I just-" Jubilee stopped. She had heard it again. It wasn't just her imagination playing games with her. She turned to Marie and watched as her eyes widened in alarm; knew Jubilee had heard it too. "Shit! Those guys are here!" she whispered.

"Go! Hide yourself," Marie whispered. "Go, now!"

"Yeah, no kiddin'. C'mon let's go!" Jubilee whispered and offered her hand.

"No, you go. I'll stay."

"Excuse me?"

"Trust me. You'll love my plan. I promise. Now go."

"I'm really beginning to dislike you right now," Jubilee said but stared into Marie's eyes and gave her plan a shot. She ran, quickly, to a nearby tree and squatted—watching Marie. "This better work."

Through tiny clearing amongst the bushes, Jubilee looked on as Marie gave a final cough and collapsed on the snow covered ground. She didn't move a single muscle. She looked extremely dead—didn't even look like she was breathing. Marie's pale face somehow had a tint of blue to it, the bloodstain smearing all over her mouth and next.

"Damn," Mark started as he looked down at Marie. Jubilee's heart fastened while she watched. "Is she dead?"

"Looks like it," Ted replied but gave Marie's leg a rough shake with his foot—not wanting to touch the body.

"She's dead for cryin' out loud. What the hell is with you?" Mark asked.

Ted gave Mark a slight look before sighed heavily and shaking his head. "C'mon let's go. The others shouldn't be much farther away." Jubilee's hearted practically stopped when she saw Mark and Ted begin to walk her way. There was nowhere to run.

"No, this way is faster," Mark called out, pointing in the opposite direction. "C'mon. I bet you the others are dead too."

"You think so?" Ted asked as the two walked away.

"Oh yeah. No doubt about it," Mark said and the two continued their conversation but it was only indistinct.

Jubilee let out a sigh of relief and watched as the figures walked away and disappeared into the forest. She hadn't wanted to gaze back at the figure lying as still as a corpse just a few feet away from her. Her eyes not wanting to believe that Marie was dead.

----

"Drop the gun," I growled. "Slowly." I had heard Scott's screams, although it took me a while to acknowledge his voice and then the blast and shot. Without thinking, I ran as fast as I could to them, but was too late. Brad had already got to Jean, and almost to Scott. But I wouldn't allow it. Somehow, amidst the throbbing headache and double vision, I made it. I had to admit, I was totally agitated by the fact the others weren't there.

"You're not gonna shoot me," Brad told me. "I have your friend under target. You pull, I pull," Brad threatened.

"Go ahead, I don't care. I have what I want," I said firmly.

"Logan--" Scott whispered in disbelief.

"Listen, bub," I started, ignoring Scott completely. "I've got y'money and I could care less if I kill you and you kill him. I still got the money."

"And If I give up my gun?" Brad asked, turning his head slightly.

"We'll split it."

"How much?"

"I ain't greedy. 50-50."

"Deal," Brad called out.

"Great," I said with a smirk. And before Brad turned around fully, I looked at Scott and winked. "Now take out the clip and give me the gun." Brad did as told and after emptying it, he turned around slowly and handed it over to me. I took the gun and shoved it into my pants, along with the clip. I looked at Jean and Scott. "Scott, give Brad your wallet."

"What?"

"Now!" I yelled. He jumped at the sound of my voice and quickly reached for his wallet. He pulled it out and started to hand it to Brad. "Brad, get it." Brad did as told and started to reach for the wallet when I stopped him. "Oh hey, Brad?" I called out. He looked at me. "And this is for fuckin' with my head!" I yelled and swung the back of the gun square into Brad's face with all the strength I had left. Unfortunately for Brad, I had more strength than I thought. I swung the gun again, hitting Brad at the back of the skull, cracking it open. I dropped the gun to my side and looked at Scott.

"Need a hand?" he asked me. I helped him and Jean up and hugged them tightly. "C'mon, let's get rid of this asshole." Scott grabbed feet and I grabbed his wrists and we both tried to lift Brad off the ground and into the pit but the attempt failed miserably. "Damn, this asshole is heavy."

"Can I help?" Jean asked as she held her hand out. She furrowed her eyebrows tightly and Brad became only a _little_ lighter, due to the fact Jean did get the cure so she wasn't as strong as before. Scott and I then threw him into the pit and watched as he fell into darkness. Jean peered into the pit and listened until Brad landed with a loud _thunk_. I then watched as Scott walked to her, grabbed her forearm tightly and slightly pulled her toward him.

"C'mon sweetie. He's gone. He can't do anything to you now." Jean turned to him slowly and smiled. The smile was weak, but it was nice to see it, nonetheless. I smiled back, limped to them and wrapped my arm around Scott's shoulder.

"Can we get the hell out of here, now? Please?" I asked with a chuckle and started on. After a few moments, I turned around and faced them, watching as they slowly joined me.

----

Jubilee kept her eye on Marie, knowing she'd have to get out of her hiding spot, no matter how long she has stalled it. The fear of the bad guys possibly finding her behind the bushes had diminished, but finding Marie lying in the snow completely lifeless was something completely different. After a few moments of her body making up its own decision, Jubilee found herself slowly walking towards Marie while her brain was still in the process of making up that said decision. Talk about your body being quicker than your head. Jubilee squatted near Marie and sighed heavily. The body remained still.

Marie's lips were still blue, bloodstains were now dried and cracked, her face pale and lightly covered with snow. "C'mon Rogue," Jubilee cried. "You can't die on me like this. I can't do this alone." She looked up into what little blue sky poked through the clouds and shook her head as though she were looking for an answer. "Why?"

"Quit your whinin' already."

"Wha—" Jubilee started and quickly turned around, finding Marie looking up at her with a smirk across her lips.

"What's wrong J?" Marie asked and sat up—although it hurt like hell doing so. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"How the hell did you pull that off?" Jubilee asked with a chuckle. "How did you stay so still like that? You didn't even twitch! It's, by far, the best prank you've ever pulled."

"Logan taught me everything he knew," Marie said with a chuckle. "I'm telling you, the man is excellent at 'playing dead'."

"I bet."

----

"Ted, it's nearly five thirty. Don't you think we should turn back for Br—"

"No," Ted called out. "Brad wants us to meet at the highway, and that's just what we'll do. Besides, we're almost there."

Mark opened his mouth to argue more, but only shook his head in reply and walked further with Ted at his side. "I was just sayin-"

"Yeah, well don't. How about you just keep your fuckin' mouth shut, Mark? You'll annoy me less if you do so."

"Why the hell are you talkin' t'me like that, Ted?" Mark asked loudly. "Seriously. How far do we go back? We've known each other since kindergarten and not once have you talked to me like this. Brad's really gotten to you, hasn't he?"

"What the hell are you talkin-"

"You know exactly what I mean. Every time I suggest something, you agree to it. But once Brad protests against it, you're instantly with him."

"Maybe it's because you tend to make idiotic decisions?" Ted hissed.

"Who was it that decided to hijacked the fuckin' bus, Teddy?" Mark asked. "Me. And because of me—"

"We're stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere!" Ted finished. "Now shut your fuckin' mouth before I shoot you in the goddamn head," Ted demanded, pointing the gun right below Mark's jaw. After a few moments, he removed the gun and began walking away.

Mark rolled his eyes, shook his head and exhaled deeply. "Asshole."

----

It wasn't until later when Scott handed me Marie's leather diary I bought her last year for Valentines Day. Why he had it, I wasn't quite sure, but he told me to read the last entry. I did as told. I was surprised by how neat her handwriting was, no matter how cold the weather was—it never betrayed her. The ink was a dark green, Marie's favorite. I sank down to the ground and sat against a tree as Scott and Jean hovered to read it as well.

_Logan, Scott and Jean,_

"_If you're reading this, than that means you're still alive. Look, the only reason why we told Scott to let you read this in the first place is because we need to tell you something."_

"Tell me what?" I asked Scott. He turned to me and shook his head. I furrowed my eyebrows and read more.

"_Notice the word 'we' instead of 'I'? That's because I'm writing this entry with Jubilee at my side. This is our entry together. Anyways, guess what? Your two youngest students finally agree on something. See, last night while everyone was asleep, I realized we had been going the wrong way all along. I could hear the soft sounds of the river not too far away, which only means one thing—the highway. Highway equals freedom. This also means we don't have to use that compass of Bobby's anymore."_

"_Anyways, I'm not doing so great. Jubilee either. I began coughing up blood and believe me that was like, a major 'whoa' moment for the both of us."_

"What?" I asked, almost too loudly. "How come you guys didn't tell me this?" I asked them furiously.

"Logan we had no idea. If we did, we wouldn't have left them alone. We would have brought them with us and helped them," Jean told me. "Truly."

_Jubes is developing a fever and a headache, not to mention the shoulder. So anyway, we feel that if we were to follow Scott and Jeannie to find you, we would slow them down and you could be dead because we came too late to save you. (Hey Scott, if you're reading this that means Logan's dead. That would suck, but anyway, same rules still apply)._

Tears slowly formed in my eyes and my throat tightened. I hadn't wanted to finish the entry and I knew I couldn't continue—but my eyes wouldn't stop. What happened to Marie in these woods? Did the broken ribs change her suddenly? How can she think all this? And since when had Jubes agreed to anything that Marie suggested?

Why suddenly were we the ones who seemed helpless even when we are better off than them? Scott took the journal from me and put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me nearer to him. Somehow, the hand on the shoulder thing helped a bit. He continued where I left off, seeing that I wouldn't be reading any time soon and time is what we don't have.

_My original plan was to take Jubilee with me and have you guys not come back to us because we wouldn't have been here to wait for you guys. No, you wouldn't have found our bodies lying here lifeless. We were going to go for the river and if luck is by our side, we won't be dead by then. So the next thing to do is try to find some way to survive before you guys get help or you know, just die. But the reason why I changed my mind was because of Jubilee. I know she needs me, and I need her too. _

_Now, we both know we're slowing us all down, which only means one thing…those bastards are gonna get us quicker. This also means you guys need to get here and quick so those said bastards don't find us. Hopefully we'll survive the cold while you all are gone looking for Logan. But if we don't make it before you guys come back, it isn't your fault. It just means we aren't as strong as you guys. We love you guys. _

Scott closed the journal and shook his head slowly as tears formed in his eyes. Jean and I, let's just say we were way too shocked to find the right words to even begin to speak. The throbbing in my head began to quicken its pace, as if asking me to make a decision and now. I realized, I should have blacked out right then and there with all the straining I put on my head but fought it. I made a promise. I have to do my part. No matter what decision we make, I'm going to make sure I get them back alive.

I feel like Mel Gibson in Braveheart.

-----

"Where the hell have you two been?" Ororo asked in a loud whisper as she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. Jubilee and Marie looked at each other and sighed heavily—then quickly looked back at Ororo before beginning their own explanation—simultaneously. Ororo furrowed her eyebrows, glanced at Bobby (whose mouth was gaped open at the girls) and shook her head. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Ororo called out, waving her hands towards the girls wildly. "Forget that I asked."

"We were just taking a walk—" Marie started.

"In the condition you're in? Marie, why would you even—"

"Because Jubilee told me I'm going to have to walk anyhow when Scott, Jean, and Logan get back. And she's right. I'm going to have to learn how to get over it. We can't keep slowing you all down like this. The more we slow down, the more we're not going to survive this thing. But if we just get over it, and hurry---we'll survive quicker."

"Oh," Ororo said with a single nod. She looked over at Bobby and then back at the girls. "Whatever."

"Besides, there's something we have to tell you."

"What?" Ororo asked and sat down by a tree, yawning.

"Marie and I realized we've been going in the wrong direction this whole time," Jubilee explained. "Just the other night, I heard the softness of the river just a few miles in the opposite direction, which is north of us. The river only leads to one thing—"

"The highway," Bobby whispered.

"Exactly."

"So when Scott, Jeannie and Logan come back, we'll head north?" Ororo asked.

"Exactly."

"Sounds like a plan."

----

"So, we're goin' north," I said in more of a statement than a question. Scott and Jean nodded their heads. "Alright, guys. Let's go get the others and get the fuck outta here."

And so we walked. It seemed like forever, but had only been a good thirty minutes. And all I hoped was they weren't too much farther. And thanks to my special effect double vision, I could hardly see anything beyond a meter in front of me. Funny thing that got me was: I was from Canada. I should be used to this kind of weather—to the woods. And here I am walking through the forest like some…city boy. And hey, just because I live in New York now, don't mean anything.

Scott walked to my left and Jean to my right. None of us wanted to lead the way. Not that I could anyways, but that's beside the point. I had to admit, having them on either side of me, made me feel safe. And should my head just suddenly refuse to function and in return switching off the energy my legs so desperately needed to keep moving, they'd be there to catch me.

"Are we there yet?" I asked, almost in a whine. Scott stopped, turned to me and sighed heavily.

"If you ask that one more time, Logan, I'll kill you myself," he said firmly. I only laughed at him. "Why are you laughing? Do I look like I'm joking?"

"It's great to have you back, One-Eye."

"Metal-head," he mumbled just before walking away. I stiffen up some and inhale deeply, readying myself to start a comeback when he interrupts. "Don't start Logan, you might burst a vein." I furrow my eyebrows and turn my attention to Jean, who was trying to hold back a chuckle. "You comin'? Or are you gonna just---stand there all night?"

"Oh c'mon, Scott. I feel like a walking zombie," I told him and started walking again with Jean at my side.

"Yeah, well…" Scott started and stopped, waiting for us to catch up. "You don't look real good either."

"Oh, and you do?" I said and caught up with him.

"I look better than you." Great. My terrific headache just turned excellent. From the top of my skull right down to the neck and shoulders, it ached beyond description. I wondered if it could spread to the rest of my body. Let's hope it doesn't. So wait, would that be called a 'headache all over'? That's a new one.

Then it started—the ringing. Slow and weak at first, then it got louder and clearer—ringing in my head as if to encourage the throbbing to go faster and harder. Now I was hearing images. I couldn't believe it. Just what the hell is going on here?

"What was that?" Scott asked, holding me back, cautioning me to stop. I stumbled into him and turned to him.

"What are you talkin' about? My head is killin' me," I said and placed both hands cupped around my face—willing the ringing the stop.

"That sound," Scott mumbled. "What is that?" I wish he would stop asking me stupid questions at a time like this. I hadn't heard any other sounds than the ringing bursting my eardrums. "Jean, you hear that?"

"Yeah definitely," she said. "What is that?" she asked. Argh. If they can't even tell what they're hearing, how would they expect someone with a case of serious head trauma, like me, to know the answer?

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes, trying to forget the noise ringing in my head. It became overpowering, which only caused my head to throb even more. "I don't know what you guys want me to say. All I'm hearing is the ringing in my ears. It's killin' me," I told them and tried to cover my ears to rid the noise but, the attempt failed miserably.

"That's what we're hearing too, Logan!" Scott told me and looked around him.

"Wait, are you telling me, you can hear what I'm hearing?" I asked and pointed to myself. Scott and Jean turned to me and nodded excitedly. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and shook my head. "Please tell me we aren't going crazy. How can you hear what I'm hearing? It's all in my head!"

"No, I heard it too, Logan," Jean told me and shook her head. "It's not your head."

"No? Then what the hell is it?" I asked, waving my arms around wildly.

"I don't know. It sounds like…like a-"

"It sounds like a cell phone or something," Scott called out, interrupting Jean, and looked around his surroundings more.

"Yeah," Jean agreed as she took looked around. I honestly, didn't hear what they heard but—I guess the ringing could be mistaken for a cell. So, I just went along with it. "Where's it coming from?"

"Logan?" Scott called out to me. I turned to him and noticed how dark his blue eyes were. They were full with exhaustion and excitement all at the same time.

"What?" I asked, my heart pounding harder than before.

"It's coming from your bag."

"No way. There can't be a cell in here. I've checked, multiple times!" I called out as I slowly pulled the pack and started to unzip it. I got down on my knees and pulled everything out. "See? There's no cell phone in here."

"It's coming from your bag, Logan!" Jean yelled out to me. Thing was, I had already emptied out the whole damn thing. How she figured it was still in my bag, I'm not quite sure…but she looked determined. I turned the pack around to where the back faced me. That's when I became quite angry at myself. There, I found the small pouch compartment at the back, hidden from everyone else. That was where I usually kept my little things I didn't want touched. And as far as I'm concerned, I never put my cell in there. I rarely carry one anyhow.

"I forgot 'bout my little compartment here," I announced and unzipped the pouch. "And I'm still sure I didn't stick it in there. Last time I had my cell phone was when we were in my car and I was talking to Samantha with it, but I left it in the car," I told them firmly and when I looked down, I found several pictures of Samantha and I (Samantha is my fiancé) and a cell phone I've never seen in my entire life.

Good thing was…it was ringing.

I looked up at Jeannie and Scott in complete shock. I hadn't known what to do, yeah it was silly of me, but that was how I felt. Scott looked at me as though he were saying, "If you don't pick up that phone right now, I'll gladly kill you." Jean, however, looked at me like, "What are you a dumbass? Answer it!"

"You gonna answer that, Log?" Scott asked me, bringing me back to reality.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

I looked down at the phone and gently picked it up. "Hello?" my voice croaked as he held the phone to my ear, unsure of what to expect on the other end. Frankly, I was still quite bothered finding a strange phone in my bag.

I waited for a few moments for an answer, but only received static in return. And if it wasn't my disillusioned head at play, someone was breathing heavily at the other end. That was when my imagination began to run wild. _What if the bad guys were at the other end? I'm practically inviting them over. Shit!_

"Well?" Jean asked, slightly tapping my shoulder for an answer, but I only ignored her and listened to never-ending breathing.

"Hello?" I called out louder into the mouth piece. "Is anybody there? Can you hear me? Hello!" I practically kept shouting into the phone, mainly so Scott and Jean wouldn't bother me. I'd hate to lose my head in general, but I'd hate to lose all control at them. The breathing stopped, replaced with someone crying. _Why the hell were they crying? Does whoever on the other end find it funny to call up people and start bawlin'? Am I not getting the joke?_

"Hey, please say something!" I cried into the phone.

"Logan?"

I froze. My heart practically stopped beating. I knew that voice. I loved that voice. I treasured that voice for as long as I've known her. And let me tell you, I've known her for a long ass time. "Sam?" I asked, still trying to swallow everything in. It couldn't be her. _How did she get the number to this phone? It's not even mine!_

"Oh my God! Baby!" Yup, it is Samantha. "You're alive! I knew you were alive! I knew those people were wrong. Oh, Baby, are you okay?"

That's when I started to bawl. I met Samantha in England six years ago. It was on a Saturday when she and I met for the first time. There was this guy who was harassing her nonstop, and so I walked up and stopped him. After Samantha and I met, we became friends but then our feelings for each other led to another road. She learned I was a mutant, but loved to learn what I could do.

The only thing I tried to hide from her was my anger. Most of the time I never really could control myself…but there was one time she saw that exact side of me. But she never backed down---never left me. I thanked her for that, and our love only became stronger for each other.

"Sam, honey, I miss you so much. I'm fine but we are lost somewhere in the woods," I replied sadly. Suddenly feeling like my breath was caught in my throat.

"Logan, tell her to get help!" Scott urged.

"Baby, they thought all of you died in the bus crash. That's why no one sent out a search party lookin' for ya. But hey, they received DNA results earlier this morning, and they found none of yours and the others. They began sending out a search party about three hours ago."

"What about Chuck? Couldn't he have looked for us on Cerebro?" I asked, almost annoyed that the old man hadn't looked.

"Charlie isn't doing real well. He's been getting migraines lately and just the thought of trying to concentrate that much hurts," Samantha told me.

"Baby, you have to do something for me. Can you do that?" I asked with urgency in my voice.

"I can drive down into town and give the head police your number. Maybe he can call you and you can lead them to where you are," she suggested.

"Honey listen, just in case something gets faulty, tell them that three of us are in the north area, while four are to the south. And I love you," I said hurriedly, realizing time was running out for us all.

"I will. I love you. Just hang in there okay?" That's when the phone went dead. I stopped and stared down at it for a long time.

"Well?" Jean asked excitedly. Scott looked at me anxiously. That was the first time in a long time, we all wore that expression.

"Sam's gonna get help."

------

Marie was crying and Jubilee hadn't known why. Her entire body began aching from having to support Marie's weight on her already injured shoulder. Her fever had bloomed at an alarming speed and her body couldn't stop shivering. The last thing she needed was to have Marie break down like that.

The young brunette hadn't asked for a rest or even complained of any pain since the two left for their walk. But the fact of her crying only confused Jubilee more. She hadn't known what to do. The wind felt like a ferocious blizzard blowing against them, cutting through their skin. If they didn't get back to the camp site---they just might freeze in place.

"C'mon Marie, we need to rest," Jubilee called out breathlessly. Marie shook her head. "Why? Am I hurtin' you?"

"No," Marie coughed out. "If we stop, we'll never want to get back up and walk," Marie said weakly.

Jubilee smiled sadly. She knew Marie had a point, but the fatigue got to her legs, which only made her want to stop and rest even more. "Don't worry Mar. We're getting out of here alive. Just hang in there," Jubilee said, hoping she sounded convincing enough for her and Marie both.

Jubilee had lost all the feelings in both hands and she was beginning to think that her left foot was getting frost bite. It made walking very difficult for her, but she knew she had to go on. Marie's breathing was irregular and Jubilee could only hear either wheezing or a gurgling sound when Marie actually took a breath. Marie's chest was burning in protest, every icy breath that she took only hurt her more and yet—she had to breath in order to live.

Marie only cried because she couldn't imagine telling anyone how much pain she truly felt. She cried because she couldn't tell anyone how lost she felt when her brain began telling her the end is near for them all. She couldn't tell anyone how much she prayed that the others wouldn't die because of her weakness. She cried because she couldn't tell anyone she was helpless.

Marie winced in pain as she felt a cough building its way in her chest and felt more helpless that she couldn't cover her mouth with her hand. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the first cough to escape. Usually it wasn't a big cough, but it always led to bigger ones in the end. She waited. Waited for the unbearable hurting. When it finally came, she couldn't use her hand to rub the pain away from her chest, and it only made it worse. And then there was the blood. It trickled down the corners of her mouth, down her neck and soaked his sweater.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jubilee saw the camp site. She made a smile and encouraged her sister to keep walking. "C'mon Mar. We can make it! C'mon!" Marie never stopped crying. "Oh, c'mon Mar. We're gonna get outta here!" Jubilee consoled her. Marie only nodded.

"Where the hell have you two been?!" Ororo called out and ran to Marie and Jubilee, pulling them into a gentle hug. "I've been so worried."

"We were just taking a walk, 'Ro," Marie called out in a hoarse whisper.

"No, you don't just go take a walk out there," Ororo started. "Not with those guys trying to find us."

"We didn't see anyone—"

"I don't care if you did or didn't," Ororo scolded. "Don't you two _ever _leave without my knowing."

"But-" Jubilee started but Ororo stopped her.

"But nothing," she said. "I have been worried sick about you two, wanting to go out there and find you myself, but didn't want those men finding me as well."

After a few moments of more scolding from Ororo, both girls nodded and walked back towards a large oak tree and sat down. "That was still a good prank you pulled," Jubilee whispered.

"Prank?" Ororo asked, turning to Jubilee and crossed her arms. "What prank?" Jubilee and Marie froze. They turned to each other and sighed heavily before eyeing Ororo again. After a few moments of gaining strength, Jubilee confessed. "I can't believe it," Ororo said as she shook her head. "You two have no idea who furious I am right now."

"Oh, I think we have an idea," Jubilee muttered.

"You could have been shot if you twitched, even the slightest, Marie," Ororo scolded. "You two are to never leave my sight, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, we have to get out of here. We have to find our way to the highway," Ororo explained.

"If we head south," Marie started and slowly stood up with Jubilee's help. "We can find a sewer or something and climb our way to the highway."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jubilee said, trying to lighten up the mood. Attempt failed.

"Alright," Ororo said with a nod. "Let's go."

Finally, Ororo, Bobby, Marie and Jubilee made it to the entrance after about two hours of walking. The water which flowed from the sewer and into the river, although icy and cold to the touch, was only ankle deep. Bobby took the first step and the cold water seeped right through his Nike shoes and stung his already trembling feet. The cold ran through his entire body, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. He stood there for a few seconds and adjusted himself to the new temperature. _Nike. Just Do It._

"This place is freakin' huge," Bobby said as he took Ororo's hand and helped her down. "We could like, start a party or something down here," he finished, hoping to strike a conversation with the others.

"A few hundred, you think?" Jubilee asked, playing along with Bobby. Bobby smiled in satisfaction.

"A thousand." Bobby chuckled.

"Hell, a whole damn stadium of folks," Ororo added in.

"What would we call it?" Marie asked as Jubilee helped Marie down. "Underground Party?" she continued. She was definitely enjoying the conversation. The tunnel then started to grow darker as they all got deeper but it was light enough to see.

"Nah, I've got something better than that," Jubilee boasted.

"Oh yeah? What would you call it then, Miss Jubilation?" Ororo challenged.

"Hell Freezes Over," Jubilee replied casually. Bobby laughed like he had never laughed before. Almost lost footing and fell into the water as well. But, thankfully Ororo caught him.

"That was actually a good one," Marie said and shook her head. Just about then, she saw the first corner of the tunnel and decided to take the turn. They were all rewarded by the most beautiful sight ever. Steel ladders. The same ladders that would lead them to freedom. "Oh my God," Marie started.

"They're so beautiful," Bobby finished.

"Alright guys," Ororo started with a sigh. "Time to climb."

"Guys," Marie called out sadly and hung her head low.

"What?" They all called out in unison.

"I have a confession to make," she said weakly.

"What?" They asked and turned completely to her.

"I can't feel my hands. Both of them. There's no way I can climb up even if I could. I can't hold on to the bars with these ribs."

"Please tell me you're joking," Jubilee asked. "Is this to get back at me for reading your journal that one time?"

"I'm sorry, Jubes," Marie said as tears formed in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. "I wish I could tell you I was, but I can't."

"What the hell are we gonna do? We have you get outta here," Jubilee said and crossed her arms.

"Listen, I have an idea," Marie said and sighed heavily, wincing afterwards. "You three go up. I'll wait for you down here. Get help," Marie suggested firmly. She sank down to the walk way and sighed tiredly. "I'll wait for you guys here."

"Baby—" Bobby called out and fell to his knees in front of Marie. "I can't lose you."

"You won't lose me, Bobby," Marie said sadly. "I promise."

"I love you," Bobby whispered in Marie's ear and ran his fingers through her hair before kissing her gently and pulled away after a quick second.

"I love you, too," Marie said and leaned her head back, watching as they went up the ladder and never looked back down. Then, shortly after, lost consciousness.

Bobby stopped and closed his eyes, refusing to let the tears flow. His shoulders were aching and his legs were beginning to cramp in many places as he hung on for dear life. He had only about a few more rings to go before he reached the top of the ladder and out to the highway.

_C'mon Bobby. Do this for Rogue._ Bobby told himself. _She needs you!_ Flashes of memories he had with the others kept coming back to him as he led the way. He wondered if his professors had made it to the highway; if they found help at all. Or would they be so stubborn as to come back for them. That would be the biggest mistake. They might not get out alive and Bobby wouldn't able himself to forgive himself for it.

He brushed the thoughts aside and continued to climb the ladder-slowly but surely. He could feel the slight breeze rushing from above and knew he was getting nearer to freedom.

_C'mon Drake. Just a few more and that's it_, he could hear Logan in his head. Although the nauseous feeling came back and he prepared himself. Tilting his head to the side, Ororo and Jubilee both hung to one side while Bobby purged for the third time. He also hoped that Marie was far enough as to avoid the said mess.

Two more rings and he would reach the lid. He took another deep breath and climbed up. Yes, and now for the final step. _C'mon Drake!_ With his left hand holding on to the bar for dear life, he gave his right hand all the force he need to push the lid open to freedom.

Shit.

The lid didn't budge.

It wouldn't open.

----

"Scott, wait," Jean whispered tiredly and sunk down to the ground next to Scott's feet and winced in pain as she took a hold of her wounded leg. I stopped, turned to them and tried to catch my breath as well.

"Jean," Scott started and sunk down beside her, grabbing either side of her face and kissed her forehead gently. "Just hang in there, okay?" I, on the other hand, became worse all of a sudden. My legs became weak which only caused me to fall to my knees. I sat down, still on my knees and rubbed my face with my rough hands.

"I think I need to lie down," I told Scott and adjusted myself to lay in the snow, but Scott stopped me, grabbing my arm roughly. "What?" I asked and yawned.

"There is no way you're gonna sleep! I need you to stay awake, Logan!" Scott yelled at me. I looked away from him for a split second and a small noise escaped from my lips. _What the hell was that? Did I just whine? I don't whine! I'm the Wolverine! _

"Scott, please. Just like—five minutes at the most," I begged him and he shook his head. "Please?" And let me tell you, saying 'please' to Scott---doesn't happen often.

"Logan, I know you hate me right now, but I don't care. You can't sleep right now. I need you."

I turned to him, my eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Why? I'm helpless." A tear rolled down my cheek.

"No you're not!" Scott told me, trying to encourage me. "You're," he started and sighed heavily, slightly closing his eyes. And I know at this moment in time, he was going to compliment me—you know, lift my spirits. "You're a great guy, Logan. An asshole a lot of times, but you're a great guy. We all need you. Especially Marie."

I hung my head low, and sighed heavily. The compliments made me feel good, but I was still tired nonetheless. "Yeah, alright," I grunted.

Suddenly, the phone rang, causing us all to scream for a split second. My heart pounded wildly and my first instinct was to _kill _whatever caused the noise. But when Scott grabbed the phone, I contained myself. "Hello? Can you hear me?" he called out.

"_I'm Michael Waters, head of the Rescue team. Is this Logan?"_

"No, this is Scott. Scott Summers."

"_Okay Mr. Summers. Could you please tell us where you're located?"_ I heard Michael from where I sat and scoffed in reply. _We wouldn't be lost if we knew that._

"We're somewhere in the North. About another thirty minutes to the highway. I think we're right at the end of the woods, but I'm not sure exactly," Scott replied.

"_Alright. How many civilians are with you at the moment? Can you tell me their status?"_

"I have Logan and my wife, Jean with me. Logan has a head injury and looks like he could faint at any second. I'm trying to keep him up though. My wife was shot in the leg and it's still bleeding. She has a few bumps and bruises here and there, but those aren't bothering her."

"_Okay Mr. Summers,"_ Michael started. _"We're not far from you. And Sir, if you could don't let Logan lie down and sleep. And for Mrs. Summers, try to stop the bleeding until we get there. You can cover the wound with snow."_

"Thank you Mr. Waters," Scott replied happily. "Oh, and the other four are at a small camp site we built the center of a small circle of Oak trees. Please get somebody there, quick!" Scott called out.

"_What are their conditions?"_

"Marie is a brunette. She has a few broken ribs and is coughing up blood. She is the worst among us," Scott started to explain and sighed heavily. That's when I knew he regretted ever forcing Marie from the bus like he and Bobby had. "Jubilee has a really bad burn on her shoulder and has a bad fever. She's almost as bad as Marie."

"_And the others?"_

"Bobby has a few cuts on his face, nothing too bad, but the cold is getting to him. And he has a fever. Ororo has several deep cuts on her back and has a bump on the head. She gets dizzy quickly."

"_Alright. My men are on the way as we speak, sir."_

"Thank you, so much."

"_And if I might add,"_ Michael started. _"They are the best of the best."_

"Thank you so much!"

"_I almost forgot to ask," _Michael called out. _"What about you? Are you wounded?"_

"I have bruises and my arm was burnt, but I'm the least of your worries right now," Scott explained. "Please just come and get us as soon as possible."

"_Help is on the way."_

Scott hung the phone up and slipped the phone into his jeans. "Are they coming?" Jean asked.

"Yes, and he's sending rescuers for the others too." Scott smiled and took Jean's hand. "We're gonna be okay." And not a few moments later, we all hushed as a loud roaring sound grew ever louder by the seconds. That was when we realized it was a helicopter. "See? They're gettin' 'em. We're gonna make it."

"Finally, it's all over!" I called out happily and fell backwards into the snow. I chuckled and felt the fatigue begin to take control. I watched as Scott put Jean's wounded leg in the snow and put pressure on it. Then he turned to me. "I can lay down now, right? Now that help is comin'?"

"No. I need you to sit up. C'mon," Scott said and offered his hand. "C'mon Logan, doctor's orders," he said firmly and I took his hand.

"I'm beginning to hate this doctor already." Jean chuckled.

-----

I couldn't believe it. Finally after three days without food, water, shelter and psychotic robbers desperate to find us, we made it out of the woods and back to the highway. They had even set up little tents for the rescuers to seek refuge from the snow. It turned out that the town was suffering from a terrible blizzard. Unfortunately, we hadn't known about it until after spending three days in the said blizzard.

A female doctor cleaned my wound and gave me a hot pink bandage around my head. Someone was still attending Jean's leg and little injuries while Scott didn't seem to like his neon green bandage around his arm either. And we all sat in our section—waiting for news about the others.

"Mr. Summers?" a man called out as he approached us. He was covered in a police uniform and had a badge that read Waters on the front of it.

"Yes?" Scott asked.

"I'm Michael. We spoke on the phone?"

"Ah, yes we did. Thank you so much for helping us," Scott said and offered him a handshake.

"Just doing my job, sir. I have to admit something to you," he started and I approached them. "We have a problem."

"Problem?" I asked and furrowed my eyebrows. "What kind of problem, Lieutenant?"

"The paramedics. They're stuck in the blizzard. They're all safe but a tree trunk had fallen in their path and they're working on getting it out of the way. We then sent out a helicopter, but had to stop their mission due to the blizzard. It's making visibility almost zero. But we also have rescuers on foot sent in about two hours ago."

I nodded and truly admired the man standing before me. Sure he was human and I usually despised humans, but…this guy wasn't half bad. Michael looked to be in his early forties and he practically oozed with confidence and calmness. This, in return, put me in both.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. We trust you and your men completely," Scott said with a nod and a smile. "I think we'll be okay for a while. Besides, we want to be here when they bring everyone back to us."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Thank you for your patience," Michael said and smiled at us. "And if you feel any pain, even the slightest, please approach any of my men. They will be more than happy to assist you."

"Thank you, we'll do that," I replied. I sat down on my stool beside Scott and looked over at him. He looked around the small room we were in and noticed he was completely calm. My head, however, was spinning and they wouldn't let me lie down. I found myself more alert than ever before. I guess I was just real anxious.

The Lieutenant excused himself and joined his other men in their mission to hunt for Ted and Mark—due to the fact Jean, Scott, and I know Brad is officially dead.

"You alright Logan?" Scott asked me. "You're all like…spaced out."

"I'm just worried about the kids and 'Ro. What if Ted and Mark got a hold of 'em?" I asked worriedly.

"C'mon now man," Scott said and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Let's not scare ourselves shitless. They'll find 'em. And they'll be safe and sound with us soon."

"You guys wanna cup o'coffee?" Jean asked as she limped over and sat down beside Scott.

"No thanks. I've had my share," I said and burped. "I just hope I didn't have to take a piss anytime soon. There are too many people and too little private spots." Scott chuckled and shook his head. Glad I didn't lose my sense of humor after all this.

"You guys hear that?" Scott asked after a few seconds. Jean and I froze. Oh, we learned the 'hear and freeze' technique back in the woods. When someone heard something, the others instantly froze and listened. It wasn't a fun game but it helps to get over your boredom.

"What?" Jean asked.

"Listen," Scott urged.

I heard it. It sounded like the pounding in my head.

"Sounds like the pounding in my head," I told them.

"Exactly. Sounds like someone's pounding against something," Scott replied.

"Pounding what, exactly?" Jean asked.

"I already told you. My head," I replied.

"C'mon Logan. Be serious. We don't have time for your jokes right now," Scott urged to me. I held my hands up in defense and watched him. "It sounds like it coming from--"

"Under me!" I shrieked. Someone pounded again, causing my chair to move slightly. "Holy shit."

"What the hell is that?" Jean asked and looked beneath my chair. Yeah, Jean who never curses now did. See what the woods can do to ya? Can change your life. I got off the stool and slowly looked down. There was a manhole beneath me. And someone was pounding against it.

"Oh my God, someone's down there!" Scott cried out. "C'mon and help me open it!"

"Wait! What if it's those guys?" Jean stopped him. Good thinking Jeannie! Yeah, Scott needs to get his head checked.

"But what if it's not?"

_Damn Scott and his stupid 'what if's…_


	5. Chapter 5

Ted and Mark had been walking for hours on end and still they found nothing in return. The last time something eventful happened to him, it only turned to disappointment when the bag next to the young brunette contained no money at all. They knew that two of the victims were dead and now only searched for the remaining five.

Mark became irritated and swore that he wouldn't have second thoughts in killing the remaining five if he ever laid eyes on them again. If it hadn't been for the money, he would've long deserted the woods. He remembered the man who fell into the pit and how Brad had banged him up pretty good with the gun just after giving him the cure. He wondered if his fiancé had any clue what had happened to him. Mark envied the 'Furball' as they call him—due to the fact, he looked rougher and tougher than Mark all together. Mark looked to be more clean-cut.

The brunette they found further down the woods looked much younger; maybe in her late teens, early twenties. Mark, truthfully, felt sorry that she had to die. He could have done more much damage to her pretty face. The good looking ones were always the snobs, blaming his parents for not being good looking—and he only took in their genes.

_That's okay_, Mark thought. He still has at least three to five more to find and torture. He promised it's going to be one hell of a slow death. There was no other pleasure he cherished most than the yelling and squirming of his victims begging for mercy.

"Mark," Ted called out—bringing him back. "See that?" Ted pointed at an object about a few meters from them.

"What the hell is that?" Mark asked and scrunched up his face in confusion.

"I think one of them left something behind." Ted smiled nastily and started to break into a small run towards the object. Mark followed closely behind. Upon better inspection, the object turned to be a duffel bag.

"Quick, open it," Mark demanded. Ted immediately began to unzip the bag—finding nothing except a few towels with blood on them.

"How can we be so fucking stupid?" Ted asked to no one really in general. "Of course this isn't the bag. Why would they leave it behind if it had money in it?"

"Fuck! You know what? I bet you that little Asian girl was watching us the whole time we were with that brunette chick. I bet you she was fuckin' hiding!" Mark cried out in anger. "I'm gonna kill 'er!"

"I think we may have some help on our hands," Ted claimed.

"What? How?" Ted pointed to the snow-covered ground, still looking at Mark. "Footsteps."

------

Okay, so I took back a few words. Scott doesn't need his head checked. The thing I'm certain of was that _I_ was the one who needed a head checking. Of course Scott wanted to open the manhole despite of what we all said. It could have been Ororo or Jubilee down there that I've trapped beneath me.

Scott and Jean tried pulling the top off the manhole, but nothing budged. So I joined in and dug my fingers under whatever small space was there on the lid. On the count of three, we pulled it up again. But the three days of malnourishment had taken the toll on us.

"What's going on?" A rescuer asked us and crossed his arms. I turned to him.

"There's a manhole beneath us. Someone is pounding on the door and we can't open it," I told him in a hurry. What I did notice was the pounding was getting weaker and fading. I had just hoped that whoever was down there was strong enough to hold on for dear life or it would be a long way down to certain death. If it was the bad guys, I'm thinking a good hard smack on the head with this huge coffee mug will do the trick—for now anyways.

It seemed like eternity but it only took a good ten minutes to pry open the lid. Scott, Jean and I were standing at a good distance away, but were close enough to peek. That was when I heard someone calling out for help. The rescuer pulled the person out quickly. We waited with bated breath, wanting to catch at least a glimpse of the person. The mug was tightly in hand, ready for ammunition. That was when something the rescuer said that made me drop it instead.

"Careful! This fella doesn't look too good," the rescuer called out. I lifted my head up higher, trying to get a better look but the attempt failed. Same for Scott and Jean too. "His body temperature feels like it's below zero."

Scott, Jean and I looked at each other speechless. For a second there, it felt as though I was in a game where you had to guess the expression on their face. I don't know if I was able to read anything, I was just plain shocked. Then a wide smile curved on Jean's face, and Scott's too. It became a contagious smile because I found myself wearing the identical signature on my face as well.

"Bobby!" Scott cried. We all wasted no time and ran towards the crowd. Well, at least Jean limped. Two rescue men proceeded to lay Bobby inside the tent, covering him from the neck down with thick folds of blankets and an oxygen mask which covered his face. We waited patiently, (if you call a little shoving and cries of, "Get the hell outta the way! Let us see him!" count for being patient anyways) until the two men moved away and we took their place beside Bobby.

He was completely pale. All the color completely flushed away and yet he was burning to the touch. He kept trying to take off the mask, but Scott kept putting it back on. "Breathe now, Bobby, talk later." But Bobby being Bobby, he fought back. He mumbled in the semi-conscious state, not wanting to give up.

"What is it, Robert?" Jean asked, calling Bobby by his real name. "Are you trying to tell us something?" she asked. Bobby nodded his head weakly. That's when I pulled off his mask without even thinking twice. Scott shot me a look, I didn't care. "What is it?"

"The others," Bobby started. "They're…in the…sewer. Rogue's…at the…bottom…unconscious," he explained and pulled the mask back over his face. That's when I got back on my feet as quickly as I could.

And that's when I realized that was a bad idea. People with serious head injuries shouldn't be allowed to move around so much, or make sudden movies. They should have strapped me down.

"Don't move," Scott told me. "I'll go talk to them," he told me. I turned to Bobby and noticed his breathing was getting back to normal but would take some time before the color came back to his face and body.

----

"Careful of this one," a rescuer called out. "Her shoulder is pretty banged up!" he called out as he pulled out an almost unconscious Jubilation Lee. I ran to her, but a female nurse stopped me. I looked down at her and furrowed my eyebrows as she reached for my bandage.

"Come on. Let's go change that bandage of yours," she told me sweetly and took my hand. I walked with her, but my attention stayed on Jubilee the entire time as the nurse changed my bandage.

"Is she going to be okay?" I heard Scott ask a doctor as Jean paced the area she and Scott stood at.

"Her shoulder is pretty bad. We'll clean it up, bandage it, and give her some pain killers. It'll knock her out, so you won't be able to speak with her much," the doctor explained as he and others wrapped Jubilee in thick blankets. Scott and Jean nodded.

"We got another one!" the rescuer called out as he helped out Ororo from the sewer. Ororo took the man's hand and stepped out of the sewer and was immediately aided with thick blankets, but the moment Ororo's eyes were met with Jean's, she pulled away from her aid and hugged Jean tightly.

I tried to keep the tears from coming, and I must say, I did a rather good job of it. Well, at least for the first few seconds of attempting to. "So, which lady is yours?" the nurse at my side asked me. Her name is Meredith. I looked down at her and chuckled, shaking my head in reply.

"None," I told her and kept my eye on Ororo, Jean, Scott, Bobby and Jubilee. "I'm with no one."

"Wow, a good lookin' fella like you? They must be crazy if they don't find you attractive," she flirted. Again, I only chuckled my response.

"Believe me, _doll_, you wouldn't either if you _really_ knew me." I told her.

She nodded and worked on my bandage a little more before trying to strike up another conversation. "So what's your name?" she asked me. I looked down at her and cleared my throat.

"How's my head doin', Doc?" I asked her, changing the subject. Her smile faded and she stood up straight, looking me in the eye.

"You'll be fine," she told me and gave me one last smirk before walking away towards the others. I watched her walk away and slowly slid off the stool and walked over to Ororo. She smiled that beautiful smile and slowly walked to me.

"Hey, Logan," she said in a soft whisper. I smiled and pulled her into a hug, closing my eyes. "How you feeling?"

"My head still hurts," I told her in a whisper and hugged her tightly. "You?"

"The doctor told me I have a fever, but I'll be fine," she said and we pulled away. "Glad you made it."

"Glad you made it too, kiddo," I said and kissed her forehead before we walked back to the others.

I walked to the rescuer and he turned to me. "There's another girl down there. She's the one I told you about with the broken ribs?" I told him.

"Somebody get me an ambulance!" the rescuer called out and rested a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get her out in no time, Sir."

"Thank you," I said and walked to the others.

After a few moments, a police officer ran out and yelled, "Sir, the paramedics have arrived!" Scott turned to the direction the policemen were pointing to and saw two ambulances approaching to a stop. He wondered why he couldn't hear the blazing sirens before, but they were definitely deafening his ears now.

"Can you please follow me?" Mr. Michael asked Scott. Scott nodded and followed the officer to one of the paramedics who had just alighted from the van. She looked young. She had red hair and bright blue eyes. I assumed she was still quite new to the job. And if she was, she knew how to hide it well. "Julie, we have another victim down the sewer. Her name is Marie. Mr. Summers here is going to explain to you in detail of her condition." Julie reached out her hand towards Scott and he slowly took it.

"Mr. Summers, I'm sure this is hard for you telling me the condition of your friend, but I need you to tell me everything you know. And I hope you can talk and walk at the same time?" Julie asked. Scott smirked and nodded his head in return. Quickly, the two set foot towards the manhole while Scott explained everything, in explicit detail, of Marie's condition.

"Alright," Julie called out and sighed heavily. "I'm sending a man of mine to go down there and treat Miss D'Ancanto hands on," Julie explained and pulled out a walkie-talkie thing. "This way we will know more about her injuries," she finished. Just after a few seconds, a male paramedic, maybe in his late twenties, ran towards the man hole with a stretcher.

"We'll need something that can carry her up," the paramedic called out. "It's very deep down there."

Julie held onto her head and closed her eyes tightly. I walked over and we all watched as she tried to think quickly. Just after two minutes, Julie clapped her hands loudly. "Alright people!" she called out, everyone turned to her. "I need firefighters, now!"

"Oh yeah!" I called out. "That's a great idea!" I said sarcastically and narrowed my eyes. "Why the hell do we need firefighters? Do you see a fire?" My head throbbed.

"They have to carry Miss D'Ancanto out through the manhole," Julie told me firmly. "Don't worry, we know what we're doing," she said—rather snobbish.

I raised an eyebrow and scoffed in return. "Yeah and how long did it take you to think up this little idea or yours? About what, two minutes? You're a pro, Jules; it shouldn't take you that long…" I muttered softly.

"Excuse me?" Julie asked and turned around.

"I'm sorry about my friend," Jean called out as she looked at me with disgust and stepped in front of me. I shook my head and walked to Ororo. "Miss D'Ancanto means a lot to Logan. He promised he'd take care of her and he doesn't want to break that promise."

"I understand," Julie said with a slight nod. "But I assure you, Doctor Grey, I do know what I'm doing."

"I have no doubt. Logan can be rather--"

"He's a douche sometimes," Scott told Julie bluntly. "And right now he's just scared for everyone—including himself. He doesn't know what to think at the moment."

"I understand," Julie said and nodded. Michael walked up.

"I've contacted the Fire Department, they're on their way," Michael informed them.

"Awesome. We're moving in," Julie declared as she approached her colleague.

"Jules," her colleague called out. "This manhole is way too small to bring up a big guy like me and a young woman through here—including the stretcher," he explained. "You'll have to take my place."

"Alright, I'll do it. Ted, once the firefighter comes, you bring down the stretcher. Hook one end to the extended ladder from their truck and you'll have to pull the victim out manually," Julie explained.

"I will. Good luck, Jules," Ted said and passed a dark red medical bag to her. She was then submerged waist down into the sewer when I called to her.

"Jules!"

"Yes?" she said and looked up at me.

"I'm sorry." She smiled at me. "Just please promise me you'll get her out alive."

"I promise, Logan," she said and sent me a small wink before she was lowered further into the manhole.

I stood up and turned around, only to find Scott smirking at me. "What?" I asked and crossed my arms.

"I knew there was a sensitive side to you," he said—trying to hide a chuckle. I flicked him off.

"Suck my dick, Scott," I called out and walked passed him, but my remark only caused him to laugh. That's when I couldn't help myself and chuckled along with him.

----

_Alpha one reporting to Alpha Two._ Scott turned to see where the sound came from and realized it was from a communicator device Michael held.

"Alpha Two here. What's your position, over?"

_Sir, we saw two unidentified men suspected to be the robbers about to go into the sewer. Approaching suspects now, Sir. Over._

"Approach with caution. They are believed to be armed and very dangerous. There is an injured victim in the sewer, probably on the first time on the tunnel. Address her as Marie. And get there ASAP, her life is in very real danger. Over and out."

Scott tried swallowing the new information as calmly as he could and knew he had trouble doing so. He gripped the arm rests tightly and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. The bad guys are now hot on their heels for Marie and he couldn't move himself. Then his thoughts came to Julie. She wouldn't know what was waiting for her.

"Hey Mike!" Scott called out. He walked towards him. "If those bastards are down there, shouldn't Jules be informed?" he asked.

"Don't worry, everyone on our team carries one of these, including Jules. They can hear everything that goes on. So therefore, she knows already," Michael assured me. I nodded and turned my attention to Scott. Michael walked away towards his colleagues and I walked to Scott, who sat alone. "Scott c'mon, you're tired. You should go to your friends and let us handle it," he told him. "Marie'll be fine. I promise you. And it's about time you get yourself checked by the paramedics. I think your friends need you there," Michael suggested. Scott nodded his head in return.

Jubilee, Bobby, and I were already moved into two ambulances. Jubilee was lying in a stretcher while Bobby and I sat next to her. My head began throbbing terribly and it only caused me to become sleepier. Scott then approached the van, along with Ororo and Jean behind him.

"How's Marie?" Bobby asked with a cough. He had still been shivering since the rescue.

Scott sighed. "She'll be alright. They're taking her up as we speak," Scott lied. Bobby nodded his head while Jean looked at him. "How's Jubilee doing?" he asked the paramedic, Kyle, and looked down at the unconscious girl. I sighed heavily and hung my head low.

"She'll be okay. How about you Mr. Summers? I believe we haven't met with your bandaged arm," Kyle responded.

"Oh sorry," Scott replied—a little scatterbrained.

"That's quite alright. Can I take a look at your arm?"

"If you want to," Scott replied. Kyle then proceeded to climb to the back where Scott offered his arm in return. Kyle then cut the old bandage and inspected the wound.

"It's burnt?" Scott nodded. "From the bus," Kyle said to no one in general. He then poured a colorless liquid on the wound and let the substance drop on the floor of the van. Kyle then wrapped a towel around it. "Alright, can you would just hold that in place for me?" Scott did as told. "Alright, that'll do for now. Your wound is infected but it's not bad. A few skin graph surgeries and it'll be perfect again."

"Thanks, Doc," Scott said and sighed heavily. "What about the small cuts on my face?"

"We'll get those taken care of for you," Kyle replied.

"What about Jubes? Why aren't you guys taking her to the hospital first?" Bobby asked tiredly.

"The blizzard is extremely strong at the moment and we can't risk it. We'll have to wait for a while. Don't worry though, Jubilee's condition isn't life threatening. It's a good thing that the police acted fast and treated her while we were MIA. It would have been a completely different story if they hadn't," Kyle explained.

"_What happened?"_

"_A shot was fired from down there!"_

"_Alpha Two calling Alpha One, do you hear me?" _Michael called out.

"_What's the situation? Anyone know?"_

"_No one is responding. We know nothing!"_

Scott and I both turned to the sound of the commotion. Everyone was suddenly rushing to somewhere, everyone spoke all at once and we couldn't comprehend a damn thing.

"Oh God, Marie," Jean cried out worriedly.

-----

"The prints stopped in front of this sewer," Ted called out, studying the shoe prints that guided them there.

"So they think they could just hide from us? C'mon Teddy…let's have our reunion," Mark called out as he took the first step into the sewer. Ted followed.

"Damn, this place is freezing. There's no way they'll survive this," Ted remarked as his own body began to shiver uncontrollably at the touch of the ice cold water.

"I just hope they're not dead," Mark muttered. "That would ruin everything."

"Hey, save a bullet for me, would ya?"

"Duh. I'm not gonna have all the fun," Mark called out. That's when all sorts of bodily harm crossed his mind and the grin on his face widened.

"Come out. Come out. Where ever you are," Ted mocked in a murderous voice. Mark laughed sadistically. He and Ted slowly walked through the sewer and came to a T stop. They took the left turn and stopped to inspect it—only finding their prize. The young brunette.

"I thought she was fuckin' dead back there!" Ted hissed.

"She tricked us!" Ted complained and blushed wildly. "I can't believe I fell for that shit…"

"She's never gonna live to see the light of day," Mark growled as they made their way towards Marie. He grabbed her chin roughly and checked her heartbeat. It was faint, but still beating. Ted then noticed the blood on the sweater and the bluish tint to her lips. Mark slammed Marie's head against the wall, and she hadn't even winced in pain in return.

"She's too far out," Ted complained. "There's no point in torturing her. We'll just have t'end 'er I guess," he finished and stood up. Mark took out his gun, aimed it at Marie's head and cocked it.

_BANG._

"Damn, girl," Mark started. "You're one lucky bitch. Let's try again, shall we? Russian roulette has always been a favorite game of mine! What a rush!" this time around, Mark aimed the gun at Marie's chest and she hadn't even made the slightest move. "If you're playin' dead, you might as well wake up now or you'll truly be dead once I pull this fuckin' trigger!"

"Just shoot 'er already!" Ted urged him on.

Mark cocked the gun, aimed it once again and took a deep breath. "See you in hell." He had pulled the trigger. It was followed by a gunshot that ringed through the empty tunnel, sending piercing sounds across the walls.

----

Julie always hated heights. Always did her entire life. When Ted told her she had to be the one to go down the sewer, Julie knew there was no way she could run from her biggest fear. She was also the only female paramedic on site. Sure there were other female nurses there, but none that actually worked with her.

When Julie received the emergency call that early afternoon, she had expected it to be one of those normal calls to attend to a minor accident. The city had always been safe, no major road accidents reported so far since she donned her uniform two months ago. Julie heard of the crashed bus and had even been there on the site to check for casualties. But they all told her everyone perished.

It wasn't until later that Julie learned her patients were mutants. At first she was taken back, but to her, mutants are people too. Her cousin, now deceased, was a mutant and she saw nothing wrong with it. Their powers inspired her. She didn't know why people judged mutants. So what if they're different? To Julie, mutants were ordinary people, living in an extraordinary world. They aren't perfect---and that's what made them real. Mutants have problems too.

She was only about a meter or two down when she saw the two figures approached Marie's unconscious body. Even from that distance, she could see that Marie had very little time left. The brown haired man pointed something shiny towards Marie and her quick thinking registered that it was a gun. She nearly jumped when she heard the click go off and thought she failed her mission to protect. But the gunshot never came. Julie only heard his evil laughter instead.

Determined more than ever, Julie mustered her courage to pounce. She watched as the shorter, brown haired man raised his gun and aimed it at Marie's chest. Taking deep breaths, Julie counted to three before jumping off the railing and landing hard on her target. He fell to the floor, and she swung her medical bag into the other suspect's head, causing him to fall as well—stunning him.

Marie had woken up, obviously from the grunts and groans around her. She was in shock and Julie noticed it immediately. "Miss D'Ancanto, I'm a doctor. Everything is going to be okay," she called out and quickly tried to open her medical bag.

Marie looked up past the doctor and inhaled deeply, or as deeply as she could breathe in without causing any pain to her ribs, and was too weak to speak or move.

_BANG! BANG!_

Marie and Julie froze in place. _Oh my God, I'm dead,_ Julie thought but when she opened her eyes, she turned around and found the brown haired man lying behind her with a large gunshot wound to his kneecap. Four police officers ran towards them and she realized the gunshot had come from them. Marie looked past the doctor and saw the two robbers being put into handcuffs and taken away—their eyes meeting each others.

"Marie?" Julie called out. Marie looked at her. "Everything is okay. I'm going to get you out of here and to where your friends are waiting. Just try your best not to sleep okay?" The doctor asked. Her voice was soft yet clear. She found comfort in it and nodded her head.

Although Marie was freezing and practically blue, she still felt the doctor's cold hands as she shone the flashlight directly into her eyes. Marie grimaced and moved away from the light and blinked a few times but the blinding light lingered on even after she had finished.

"Can you feel your legs?" Julie asked and gave her feet a little rub and she felt it. She nodded her response slowly. "Good." Julie then started rubbing her hands and asked the same question. Marie shook her head. She wanted to cry but held it in. "It's okay sweetheart, you'll get the feeling back. I promise."

Julie then slowly started to reach down towards Marie's ribs, and she only tried moving out of the way and she shook her head—inhaling deeply. "Please, please, please," she begged—tears streaming down her face. It hurt to talk, let alone breath and most of her energy was used up by breathing alone. "Please, don't."

"Marie, I know you have some broken ribs and probably internal bleeding and I know it hurts, but I have to give it a little tough to determine the injury. Please give me a signal if it hurts okay?" Marie nodded her head and closed her eyes tightly.

At the touch of her skin, Julie knew that Marie was suffering from the second stage of Hypothermia. She pressed lightly on her waist and felt the broken ribs. She saw her wince and stopped. "She gonna be alright?" an officer asked.

"She needs medical attention and fast. Could you radio them for blankets to be thrown down? I have to keep Marie awake," Julie explained to the officer. He immediately radioed in for sheets to be transported down.

"_Just throw it down, we'll catch 'em from below."_

"Sweetheart, does your chest hurt?" Julie asked and pointed to Marie's chest. Marie nodded. "Alright, I'm going to put your oxygen mask on. Don't panic; just try your best to breathe in, okay?" She heard the gurgling sounds when Marie breathed and couldn't believe it. "Sweetie, have you had the flu recently?" Marie nodded. Julie's eyes narrowed, now suspecting that Marie wasn't only suffering from internal bleeding, broken ribs and hypothermia---but pneumonia as well.

"Here," the officer called out and handed the thick blankets to Julie. She quickly wrapped Marie in them and turned to the officers.

"I need your body heat," she called out and waved for them to huddle close to Marie. "Marie is suffering from hypothermia and she needs heat." Quickly, the officers moved to Marie and sat down beside her, rubbing her legs gently.

_Yes, we're preparing the stretcher now. What's the victim's status, over?_

"Twenty year old female, suffering from broken ribs, internal bleeding, seconds stage of hypothermia and first stage pneumonia," Julie started and studied Marie's condition one more time and her heart sank. "And possibly a collapsed lung."

"_Alright. Stretcher is coming down as we speak. Julia, remember, no large movements. Ask the officers to help you move Marie. Secure her with the planks because she's coming up vertically. We can't afford to drop her."_

"Got'ch ya. Out."

Julie walked over to Marie as she waited for the stretcher to be completely down. She ran her fingers through Marie's hair and furrowed her eyebrows sadly. "Everything is going to be okay, Marie. We'll all be out of here in no time." Marie nodded her head slowly—her eyes beginning to blink slower and slower. She had started to space out.

"Alright," the officer called out. "The stretcher's down. You need us?" he offered his help. Julie noticed that the bad guys were handcuffed and placed at a far distance from them.

"Alright Marie, let's get you out of this mess."

-----

When they told us that the paramedics were clear to take off, I insisted that we waited for Marie. Jubilee had finally come around minutes later and although she was still semi-conscious, she managed to beg the paramedics to let us wait for her. "You don't get it, we'd all be more than happy and comfortable if we all saw her," I told the paramedic.

"Besides, it's not going to take long. They're bringing her up as we speak. Please wait for a while?" Ororo asked hopefully.

I saw the look of resignation on the paramedic's face. "Alright, but you can't leave this van." We all nodded. But when it came to me---I can't promise anything.

"Logan how's your head? I think you can lie down now, since we're gonna be moving here shortly," Daniel suggested. _Is he kidding? Now that Marie is about to come out, there's no way in hell I'm gonna sleep now. Talk about stupid timing._

I chuckled. "No, I'm fine," I grunted.

"If you say so," he grunted and shrugged slightly. I looked from the back window and to him, my trademark eyebrow raised. "I was just thinking that this van is pretty cramped. And if you wanted to lie down, you could stay in the other ambulance with Marie," he told me. _Now he tells me!_

"Uh," I grunted and looked at everyone. They all nodded slightly at me. "Maybe a little lie down isn't so bad," I grunted with a slight nod. Scott chuckled.

"I thought so too," Daniel grunted with a smirk. "Alright, just follow me down; I'll get you to another medic."

Daniel and I hopped out of the ambulance and I immediately saw the officers and Julie wheeling Marie to the ambulance beside us. I couldn't really see her, but knew she was in good hands.

"Marie!" I cried out. Jubilee sat up immediately. The stretcher reached us and stopped. Marie's brown eyes met mine, and the tears came uncontrollably. "Oh my God," I called out—my throat tightening up. I covered my face, trying to hide the fact I was about to bawl like a big baby, but when my face reddened, I knew it was all over but the crying.

"I told Marie she'd get to see you guys before we took off," Julie told me. I looked up at her and hugged her tightly. "You're welcome, Logan." After a few seconds, I pulled away and looked into Julie's bright blue eyes and smiled. "Enjoy," she said and gestured towards Marie. I looked down at Marie and ran my hand gently on her head, kissing her forehead gently.

It wasn't until seconds later I found myself in the next ambulance alongside with Marie—separated once again from the other five. Slowly, I lay on the cold bench beside Marie and the dizzy spells returned. I managed to hold Marie's hand before I felt an oxygen mask surround half of my face and I drifted into emptiness one more time.


	6. Chapter 6

As I lay in a soft, warm bed with the security blankets covering my entire body, the fresh air and silence all around me—I realized everyone was safe. I hated the fact that I had laid in that damned pit for at least a day, unable to protect my people. My family. Sure the bed was comfortable and the air was fresh and I was healthier than I was three days previous---but I couldn't seem to fall asleep. Sure the constant beeping of the machine beside me was part of it…but the thought of the others all scattered in different rooms kept me up.

My entire body ached all over. I could feel the cramp in my legs even without moving them. I lay in this bed, unable to believe that I survived walking in that weather for three days in the condition I was in. I lifted my hand to scratch a small itch on my stomach but stopped when I felt something plastered on my chest. A wire, (if I could even call it that, I don't know, I'm not real sure. I'm not fully awake) hung from the hospital gown I wore. It was probably used to monitor my heart rate.

Oh, and I hope you didn't forget my wonderfully terrible headache. It stayed with me like a loyal dog to its master. Difference was---dogs are cute. Headaches---not so much. For what seemed like an eternity, I stayed in the position of my eyes staring at the white ceiling above me. I hadn't wanted to sleep, due to the fact I've been having nightmares nonstop.

"Thank you so much, Doctor."

I knew that voice. It was her.

I turned my eyes towards the hospital door and watched as she came into the room quietly. Her long brown, curly hair carelessly bounced behind her while she walked elegantly towards me, her head hung low. The only thing that really concerned me, however, was the stressed out expression she wore on her otherwise gorgeous face. "Sam—" I croaked. I cleared my throat, a little surprised at how funny I sounded.

Her head rose and at first she looked shocked, but after a second of taking my voice in, she smiled that beautiful smile I longed for. "Logan…" she called out to me softly and sat on the edge of the bed and took my hand. "I love you so much," she cried. I could tell her tears were tears of joy, but it broke my heart. "I'm so proud of you." She rested her gentle warm hand upon my face and smiled. "You look great."

My lip quivered. I've never shed a tear in front of Samantha because I always wanted to be strong for her. But this time was different. "Baby," I started and ran my thumb gently against her cheek. "You look a hell'uva lot better than me." I chuckled, although it pained me some.

She chuckled and shook her head. "I'm so happy to see you awake. After all this time of you just lying here for the past three days---I was beginning to think you'd never wake up and see your eyes."

Hold a sec. Three days? I slept for three days?

My smile faded but the sincerity in my voice had not. "I was just sleeping. There's nothing you need to worry about, Sammy." She has gone through a lot and here I am thinking that sleeping was a blessing---but it truly was not, for my nightmares haunted me. "I'm always going to be there for you, no matter what. I love you."

After a few moments of catching up, Samantha gasped and hit the bed. "I have to tell everyone you're awake."

"The others are awake? They're outside already?" I asked, hopeful.

"No Hon. My family. They're all here," she replied, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What happened to the others?" I asked. "Where are they? Are they okay?" I confess…I panicked.

"Honey, don't worry about that. We'll talk about that later. Right now, I want you checked out and then see the family," she told me and planted a kiss on my forehead. She hurried and left the room, leaving me alone-yet again.

-----

It was a blessing to have Samantha's family fly from England to the city (which I still have no idea where I am) to show how much they truly care and love they had for me.

We all spent about a good thirty minutes catching up—laughing, hugging, while some even shed a tear here and there. I found myself every once in a while, thinking back on the others. No one mentioned the others---not even Samantha. And that was very odd of her doing so. So I did the one thing that I could do. I asked to be alone, complaining that I'm still tired and needed my beauty rest. The fact of the matter is, I can't stand having too many people around me, and it gives me headache. I just needed to be alone and recollect my thoughts.

When everyone started to leave, I held on to Samantha's hand, wanting her to stay with me.

"Baby," I started firmly. "What are they hiding from me?"

"Honey, we just don't want you to get worried right now, you're still weak." Samantha said. I know they meant well but I'm getting annoyed about all this protecting me stuff. I've had enough of it already.

"I can rest better if I know where they are." I replied. Samantha gave her resigned look. I knew I was getting to her. Soon, she couldn't resist my charm and would spill.

"Look to your left," she told me. I sighed heavily, not knowing what she meant, but I did as suggested. The whole head moving thing didn't really work out as easily as I had planned—causing my head to pound its protests, but I ignored them.

For the first time, I realized that I wasn't alone in the room. There was another bed next to mine, but it was hidden behind a curtain, which was only semi see-through. I narrowed my eyes, trying to get a better look, but it only caused more irritation to my head. I also tried to separate the noise in the room and finally could distinguish two different heart monitors beeping. The one that belonged to me was weak, but also sounded normal. The one belonging to the other patient was not only slow, but very weak.

"Who's my roommate?" I joked with a grin.

"Can't you see 'er?" Samantha asked and pointed towards the other patient. I knew she meant well, but if she could only be in my shoes at the moment, she'd know what state I'm in. I only shook my head in return. "It's Jubes."

-----

That wasn't the first time Scott was ever woken up by the disturbing noises of someone ranting in their sleep. And even for a split second, he became annoyed of that very noise.

But everything had just come back to Scott as he realized that he was still in the hospital bed, feeling lousier than before. And the ranting had come from none other than the woman he shared the ward with.

Scott sighed heavily, trying to block the ranting out of his head. All he ever wanted for the past few days was to peacefully fall asleep, and not have to wake up moments later by the disturbing, continuous rants.

"Oh my God," Scott mumbled softly, as he grabbed a random pillow from beneath him and placed it on his face to cover his ears. But the ranting still came—and it was quite noticeable. Scott turned his head and looked at his roommate, who was hiding behind a curtain and sighed heavily. _What happened to you?_ Scott asked and furrowed his eyebrows.

He sighed heavily and watched a few moments longer but was stopped when a nurse entered the room. Slowly, Scott turned his head and smiled at the nurse. "Hi," he said tiredly.

"Hello Mr. Summers," the nurse said sweetly and smiled down at him. "How have you been feeling?"

"I can't sleep," Scott said tiredly. "My roommate keeps ranting in their sleep," he said and cleared his throat. "What happened to 'em?"

The nurse looked down at Scott and furrowed her eyebrows tightly. "Mr. Summers, your roommate is your wife."

Scott furrowed his eyebrows and turned his attention to the one hidden behind the curtain. His heart pounded heavily in his chest, which caused slight pain, knowing his wife couldn't sleep soundly, now that they were safe---and that her dreams now haunted her. A tear escaped and slowly ran down his cheek, his throat tightened. "Is she okay?" Scott asked.

"Her mind is very disturbed, Mr. Summers. She hasn't slept well since you and your friends arrived at the hospital." Another tear escaped. "I can give you some sleeping medicine, to help you sleep if you'd like."

Before Scott could even open his mouth, the ranting stopped completely. Scott kept his eye on his wife and sat up slowly, (although it hurt like hell doing so) and furrowed his eyebrows tightly. "Jean?"

----

Ororo opened her eyes as a shiver ran down her spine, causing her to shake. She pulled her blankets over her entire body (even over her head) and found herself shaking uncontrollably. Everything that had happened flashed through her mind--running as fast as she could from the bullets, hearing Logan screaming as he fell into the pit, shaking as she sat by the fire and watched everyone else sleep as peacefully as they could.

Ororo slowly removed the blanket from her eyes and looked around her, wanting some sleeping medicine, but when she opened her eyes, she only found trees and snow surrounding her. She sat up, and felt something hard against her back. Ororo furrowed her eyebrows tightly, and felt behind her, finding a large oak tree behind her. She turned and faced it, hoping it was only a hallucination.

Her eyes widened as she backed away quickly from the tree, but when something wet met with her hand, she stopped. Tears filled in her eyes as she slowly turned her attention to the object behind her. Her whole body trembled with fear with every moved she gestured. There, lay the fourth man—the blonde. She quickly looked down at her hand, and noticed it was covered completely with blood. She moved away quickly and covered her mouth with her other hand.

Ororo hid her face in her lap, crying uncontrollably for the next few minutes. When she lifted her head, she saw Mark standing in front of her—reaching out to her. She screamed. "Get off of me!" she repeated over again, still fighting---kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Get the fuck off of me!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. Doctors and nurses quickly filled the room, fighting to hold down the scared woman. Two nurses held her by her wrists, while two male nurses held her legs, so they wouldn't be kicked.

"_Ororo! It's me! It's Doctor Kingston!"_ Ororo still fought. "Ororo!" she heard, more clearly. Slowly, she opened her eyes, finding a blue eyed, red headed man leaning above her with a doctor's mask covering his face. "It's okay…" she slowly calmed down.

"Where the hell am I?" Ororo asked—her body still shaking, but now only covered in sweat, and her face drenched with tears.

"You're in the hospital, my dear," the doctor said sweetly to her, removing strands of hair from her face, and gently caressed her cheek. "You were having a nightmare," he told her.

"I need to get out of here," Ororo said, trying to get out of her hospital bed, but the nurses and doctors proceeded to stop her. "Don't touch me. Get off. Let me go!" she yelled, pulling away from them; glaring slightly.

"Ms. Munroe, we can not let you go. You are in no good condition to leave this hospital. You are still very sick."

"Just…let me…go…" Ororo cried as she covered her face with her hands and cried as hard as she could. "Please…"

"I'm sorry. We can't let you go just yet."

-----

Bobby woke up and furrowed his eyebrows—taking a slow gander around the room he lay in, realizing he was in the hospital. He cleared his throat, and found it to be rather sore. He grimaced in discomfort and tried to water up his mouth, but when his attempt failed, he went to plan B—the glass of ice water sitting beside him on the nightstand. He smirked, grabbed the glass and took a small sip. The ice water trickled down his red, sore, scratchy throat, giving him moisture.

Bobby sighed heavily and turned his attention to the right, where a nurse sat reading a magazine. "Hello," he called out—his voice raspy.

"Hello Mr. Drake," the redheaded nurse called out to him. She stood up, set the magazine in the chair she previously sat in, and slowly (almost in a gliding manner) walked to him with a smile spread across her lips. "How have you been feeling?"

"I'm going through pneumonia and hypothermia…I'm peachy-frickin'-keen," he called out sarcastically. "And you?"

"I'll be fine," the nurse, Mattie, called out. She looked to be in her early thirties. Her eyes were blue and her hair was almost a maroon. "Would you like me to fluff up your pillows?"

"Sure," Bobby said and the nurse did so. "How are my friends?"

"Would you like another drink?" the nurse asked, ignoring Bobby's question.

"No, I would like to know how my friends are doing," Bobby called out firmly, but took the glass anyways and sipped on it slowly.

"I can't discuss that with you at the moment, Mr. Drake. You will have to speak with Dr. Kingston on that subject. I'm only here to make sure you're not in any pain."

Bobby nodded and watched as Mattie left the room, again in her almost gliding manner, and sighed heavily. He lay there for a good fifteen minutes, thinking about his friends but was stopped when the sudden feeling of exhaustion hit his eyes. They became heavy. He tried to fight sleep, but—that attempt too failed. "Goodnight, guys."

----

Day Four. Nothing's changed.

Of course when I woke up, the headache woke up with me. I sighed heavily, hating the fact that I was the only one, out of seven people, still in a bad condition while they were on the right track of healing almost completely.

The nurse told me I was getting better, although I knew the truth. The real truth is the one that'll bit you in the ass and not let go. And all I wanted is for it to let go, so I could believe I was getting better. But with the way my head is behaving, every thought that popped in there caused me to go into some sort of seizure (or what it felt like at least) or something.

I was getting a little stronger—able to lift myself to sit up in the bed. So, I did so now. I sighed heavily and looked around the empty room and shook my head with disgust. _I gotta get outta her, _I thought. I looked down at the floor and knew the moment my bare feet touched the cold tile, I was gonna gasp so drastically, I might as well go into a heart attack and die.

But, being me, I ignored it and prepared myself for the pain yet to come.

Slowly, I reached down and pulled my blankets off of me, sending a pretty big gust of cold air to my entire body, causing me to stop for a moment. I exhaled deeply, sat on the side of the hospital bed—my feet hanging off.

I took a good, firm hold (or as much of a firm hold as this old fart can muster) on the railing of my bed and slowly slid off the bed—my face scrunched up into a grimace, waiting for the cold to shoot up through my feet, in through my legs, to my heart, and then die of shock. The moment my feet landed on the floor, I found my heart skipping a few beats, as I danced around the room, looking for a pair of slippers. And sure thing, I found the pinkest of them all.

After I slipped on the hot-pink slippers, I turned and grabbed pole where a bag of God-knows-what solution was hung, drip by drip feeding the colorless liquid into my veins. I looked down at my chest and pulled all the sticky shit from me, including the wires, needles, and anything else poking and prodding my body.

After I was done with all that, I took my first steps to Jubilee's bed. Once I arrived beside, her I noticed her face was still slightly pale, and she still had the fever. That or the cold was really getting to me. Four days in the hospital and she's still sick. Did I mention, I hate hospitals?

Sure, I never really had to go to one for any medical treatment…due to my healing factor…but when I did go, I was poked, prodded and jabbed so many times, I had enough. Now, I'm sicker than ever and can't really escape—due to the fact, I don't even know where the fuck I am.

I only wished Jubes would wake up right now. It would be good for her and I both. I really needed someone to talk to. Sure, I've struck up a conversation with a nurse here and there…but most of them could care less. They don't understand what it's like to lose your mind a little. Literally. I needed a familiar face to talk to, to smile at…

I sat down beside Jubilee's bed and rested my forehead on her hand, and sighed heavily—feeling the tears forming as my throat tightened slightly. I couldn't help it, I felt so lost. Nurses told me Ororo, Scott, Jean, and Bobby was doing fine…so why didn't they visit? My luck, they did and I was passed out on my bed.

----

After a few moments, I heard my room's door creak open and knew a nurse had came in to check on me. I rolled my eyes in the back of my head and sighed heavily. "Logan?" I hear and immediately arched my head back. There they were. Scott and Jean.

I don't know where it came from, but the moment I saw them smiling over at me, I quickly got up and began walked towards them---but Scott wheeled Jean the rest of the way to Jubilee's bed.

"What are you doing out of bed?" Scott lectured. "You should be resting."

"I missed you too, Scott," I told him with a smile.

Scott chuckled and smiled sadly. I knew he hated seeing me like this—all white hair, kinda wrinkled up and pretty shaky. "You know for an old man, you sound pretty good."

I grinned and nodded in agreement. I looked down at Jean and held my hand out. She took it and the feeling of her warm, gentle skin sent shivers down my spine. I smiled at the feeling and gently kissed her hand. "Hey Jeannie."

"Hey," she cried. I bent down to her, wiped her tear and shook my head. "Don't you worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Logan, you're extremely sick. There's a possibility you won't make it," she told me the cold hard truth. And I knew it was a possibility—so I nodded.

"I will always be with you guys. Always," I told her, and looked into her dark brown eyes and smiled. "And if I don't make it, I don't want you guys to mourn for me. I want you to party like hell."

"What?" Scott called out and scoffed in return. "Hell no, we're not gonna party. Why would we do that? We'd be too busy missing you…" I looked at him with a smirk. "Yes, even I would miss you," he said and looked away from me. "Even though sometimes, I just…wanna strangle you…you're practically my best friend."

I looked at Scott, my smirk fading completely. My throat tightened up, tears escaped and rolled down my cheeks. "What?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed. I had to admit, he hit a soft spot. I never really had friends. And if I didn't, I wouldn't know unless they told me so. I chuckled and wiped my tears. "You're just sayin' that," I said with a playful nudge, and chuckled, looking up at him.

"No," he started and shook his head. "I'm not, Logan. And I'm not tryin' to get all mushy on you or whatever. I mean think about it, Log…you've had friends all along. Sure sometimes I really didn't like you—I hated you in fact," he started causing my smirk to reappear. "But you've had friends all along. Xavier, Peter, Katherine, me, Jean, 'Ro, Bobby, Marie, Jubes…everyone loves you Logan, whether you wanna believe it or not."

I smiled and looked down at Jean. She winked up at me and smirked and I blushed. "Aww, shucks," I said, causing them to laugh and roll their eyes. "You shouldn't have," I continued, but Scott shut me up after a while.

----

It was day five, and nothing's changed. Everyone still felt like shit, but five of us were now allowed out of our beds and rooms. Today, however, was a mandatory allowance—whatever the hell that means. Scott, Jeannie, 'Ro, Drake, and myself, all walked into a small restaurant next to the hospital building. Jean had a crutch to keep her steady, while I had to lean on Bobby every so often.

The five of us walked to a rather large circular table and waited for Dr. Jackman to arrive. I, however, became very irritated and hungry while the others tried to sit and wait patiently. After a good five minutes, Dr. Jackman arrived and sat down at the table with a shit load of papers in hand. He greeted us kindly by shaking our hands and smiling. Jackman was there to read us our conditions and what the nurses and Dr. Kingston did to treat them. He was also there to ask how we've been, so he can take notes. "Now…" he started but I put my hand up—stopping him.

"Hold that thought, Doc," I interrupted and sniffed. "Before you say anything, can I please get a cheeseburger? I haven't had good food in the past eight days." Jackman nodded. I whistled a waitress over, ordered a drink for everyone, my good, and then went back to basics.

"Alright," Jackman started once more and sighed heavily, laced his fingers and looked down at his papers. I glanced at them, tried to read them, but failed miserably. "As you all know, I'm here to read you exactly what you suffered from and what Dr. Kingston and his crew did to treat you," he told us. I grunted a 'yes'. "I've heard from Kingston, that you've been bugging him about your friends Miss D'Ancanto and Miss Lee."

"Yes, that's correct," Jean answered and laced her fingers as well. I glanced over at her and admired the strong expression of seriousness on her face and smirked slightly to myself. Jackman looked around his mid-fifties and very wise. Scott, however, thought that Jackman had been very patient considering our somewhat hostile behavior towards him and the hospital's crew.

"Tell me," Jackman started and pulled out a pen, clicking it and was prepared to jot down several notes. "How do you think you are doing?" he asked and narrowed his eyes.

"From what I can see, we're all healing up rather well. I'm surprised we survived what we went through," Jean called out with a slight smirk. "I am able to walk with the therapy I've received. Yes, I do need a crutch, but I am walking nonetheless. And from what I've seen, Scott's arm is almost completely healed. Bobby's fever has gone down—he gets the sniffles here and there but other than that…"

"And what about Mr. Logan?" Jackman asked as he kept his eyes on the paper and quickly jotted down Jean's words.

"I'm very proud of Logan," Jean said and smiled over at me. I smiled back. Scott turned to me and gave me a playful nudge and I smiled a little more. "I admire Logan's strength and ambition on not quitting. He pushed himself to move forward, and he pushed us. And for that…" she started but stopped. "…he's my inspiration."

I chuckled softly and Ororo gave me a nudge, mouthing the words 'way to go' with a sweet wink. I winked back and shrugged a 'no problem, hun'.

Jackman smiled at Jean and nodded his head. "Condition wise…how is he doing?"

"Logan is a fighter. Everyday he becomes more and more determined to get better---"

"Yeah, because I don't wanna die," I muttered, causing everyone to chuckle. "But Jean's right. I'm fighting as best as I can."

"How has your head been feeling?" Jackman asked and raises his brows.

"It's killin' me," I grunted. "Why?" I asked and crossed my arms.

"Well, my notes state that you've gone into cardiac arrest once since you were admitted to the hospital," Jackman told me and glanced up at me.

I inhaled deeply, finding it suddenly uncomfortable in my booth, mainly because I hadn't wanted the others to find out that happened. I had tried to keep it a secret---but I guess that attempt failed. They all looked at me and I exhaled deeply. "Alright, alright!" I called out and held my hands up defensively. "I was gonna tell you guys…"

"Excuse me?" Scott asked loudly. "When the hell, exactly, were you gonna tell us this?" he asked. Suddenly, I felt like a small child being scolded by their parent. I sighed heavily and glanced at Jean, hoping she'd calm down Scott, but my attempt failed when I saw the glare in her eyes.

"Oh c'mon Scotty!" I called out loudly. "I didn't want y'all t'worry!"

"Didn't want us to worry?" he asked me and scoffed in return. "You didn't want us to worry," he repeated in a statement form. He shook his head; crossed his arms. "I can't frickin' believe you," he muttered and looked back at the doctor.

"Scott, c'mon," I started firmly. "Don't be like that…I'm sure there's a shit load of stuff that's happened—"

"Alright," Jean called out firmly. I stopped, crossed my arms and shook my head. "We'll talk about it later," she said and looked back at the doctor. "My apologies. Please continue."

"Alright," he started at me. "The blood from your open wound, when you arrived, was frozen, due to being the snow for three days. It caused a blood clot, blocking the only way the blood could escape. Because of the clot, your head swelled up, and it had no where to go. This caused raised intracranial pressure-"

"Intra what?" I asked and scrunched up my face in confusion.

"Intracranial pressure. You see, the blow that you received caused a rupture in a blood vessel," Jean explained.

"Got'ch ya," I said sarcastically. "And how am I supposed to feel about that exactly?" I asked and raised my trademark eyebrow. "I mean, you guys are explainin' stuff t'me like its no big deal."

"Look, I don't want to go through all the scientific procedures because it will only confuse and bore you."

"Yeah, no shit," I grumbled and sighed heavily. "Sorry Doc, but I'm already bored," I said and yawned. "Oh. Good timin', 'ey?" Again, sarcasm included.

"You had a seizure the day after you were brought in. We weren't exactly clear about your condition and obviously, we didn't know that you and your friends were…well..." Jackman continued, practically ignoring my sarcasm.

"Well?" I asked, eyeing him slightly.

"Different," he said with a nod. "The other doctors, nurses, and I didn't know this until Dr. Grey told us. She told me you have a healing factor, and you were maybe around three hundred years of age," he started and I nodded in return. "She told me you received a clear liquid called the 'cure', causing you to lose your ability to heal, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah," I said and cleared my throat. I sighed heavily and hung my head low. Jean gave my knee a squeeze before removing it back into her lap.

"Logan," Jean started and I turned to her. "Yes you are slowly healing, and yes you are able to walk around comfortably…but you do know that your health is not a hundred percent, right?" I nodded sadly. "Your headache will still stay with you for more days, maybe even weeks to come," Jean started.

"And your vision may be affected by it as well, and it comes without warning. So you can't go walking around unattended," Jackman finished. "You'll also be on meds to help you with the pain. And as far as I can tell, I don't believe you'll suffer any side effects from the injuries or meds."

"Fine, but if I have to practically hold someone's hand the whole fuckin' time, just to walk to the bathroom and take a piss…" I started firmly. "I want Samantha. I want her and her only. I don't want some nurse I don't know walk me so I can pee."

"I will do everything in my power to make sure Samantha is your aid," Jackman told me. "The good news is, however, because you _are_ healing, there is a possibility you'll gain your abilities back. Dr. Grey did some research on the 'cure' and found out that it doesn't last long. But because you are rather old, it's harder for the cure to go away and for you to fully regain your abilities," Jackman explained. I nodded. "Ms. Munroe, let's take a look at you, shall we?"

"Me?" Ororo asked and sighed heavily. "Oh—okay."

"I believe you had small injuries on your back from small shards of glass, am I correct?" Jackman asked, looking up from his papers. Ororo nodded. "And I also see that they were removed quite well," he said and nodded with interest. Jean smiled to herself. "You also suffered from a bump on the head, which caused you be become dizzy. Other than that, you were just sick, tired, and cold."

"That's it?"

"That's it. We can give you some medications to help with the nightmares you're having, if you wish. But it's only if you want them." Ororo nodded in understanding. "Just let me know, and I'll get you a prescription."

"I'd love 'em," Ororo said with a slight nod. "But I'll have to think it over a little more."

Jackman nodded. "Dr. Grey," he started and looked at her profile. "If I recall correctly," he started but was stopped.

"I don't need an explanation, Dr. Jackman. I'm well aware of my conditions."

"Are you?"

"I'm a doctor," she said firmly with a smile. "I think I'm good," she said with a nod. Thing was, Jean had no idea of her condition. Sure she was a doctor, but she had no idea.

"You lost a lot of blood from the gunshot. If you remember, the paramedics put you on oxygen on the way to the hospital right?"

"Well, yes, but I was breathing just fine. I mean, I wasn't shot in the chest or anything," Jean called out and shook her head slightly.

"Ah, but that is where you are wrong," Jackman started. "As you know, since you are a doctor, blood carries oxygen. Loss of blood means lesser oxygen was transported to other parts of your body. If it hadn't been for the oxygen mask, you wouldn't have survived." Jean sighed heavily and sank in her chair. She thought she was getting better, and learning her conditions, only made matters worse. "We also had you on blood transfusions since you lost a lot of it. The paramedics said that you were blacking out on the way here. It shows that you were indeed not getting enough oxygen. But if it's any help, you were never in any life threatening situation--thanks to the quick thinking minds of the paramedics."

"I should have known all of this," Jean called out and shook her head. "I'm a doctor for crying out loud." I placed a hand on her knee, giving it a consoling squeeze, hoping it would make her feel better. But, her shaking head made me think otherwise.

"Mr. Summers," Jackman started but Scott shook his head, stopping him.

"No, please don't tell me. After what I just heard, I really don't think I wanna know."

"Mr. Summers, I know you don't want to know…but you need to," Jackman called out. Scott hung his head low. "They said you've been running around after the rescue just to make sure that Marie received all the attention and help she could get. There was a blizzard and you didn't get into the ambulance to warm yourselves like Logan and Jean did. Is this right?"

"Yeah, I mean…" Scott started nervously. "I just wanted to make sure everyone was alright. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing. I mean, Logan even tried to—"

"Scott, its okay," Jackman interrupted, holding his hand out, with a smirk. "You're not in any trouble." Scott nodded and sighed. "Tell me, how did you feel when you tried to leave your bed the first day you were admitted at the hospital?"

"It was really silly of me to have tried to get out of bed," Scott explained and fiddled with his hands. "My body was too weak, and I became rather dizzy."

"It also says that you had a seizure moments after you tried to leave your room," Jackman started.

I looked at Scott and shook my head. "And there you go yellin' at me for goin' into cardiac arrest, when your worried ass gets you nothin' but seizures," I told him and shook my head. "And you can't believe me?" I asked and scoffed.

"Guys…c'mon," Ororo called out and gestured for Jackman to continue.

"It says here that your burnt arm was infected and it spread to the rest of your body. You were getting sick but you didn't know it. Even the paramedics couldn't detect that when they first attended to you. That's why you were unconscious for three days. Your body was excruciatingly tired," Jackman added on. Scott nodded.

"Yeah, I was pretty tired," Scott muttered softly, still hanging his head low. "I should have just stayed in bed…"

"Yeah, Scotty…imagine what would happen if you didn't," I called out and Jean hit my arm and glared. "Oh wait, that's right…you already know."

"Oh, will you get off my back?!" Scott yelled out.

"No! You should'a just stayed in bed, Scott!" I yelled out, my head throbbed but I ignored it.

"Well what about you…Mr. Cardiac Arrest?"

"I _did _stay in bed, Scott! My heart just stopped! I didn't do anything to cause it! I was sleepin' one minute, the next I'm fightin' for my life! It's not like I can just turn my heart on and off…" I explained and stopped. I leaned on the table, and rested my head, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "Sorry," I apologized--mainly to Scott. Jackman cleared his throat and continued.

"Bobby Drake, you weren't too hard to fix up. You only had a few scratches on your face and other random marks throughout your body. You suffered hypothermia and pneumonia," Jackman read aloud from the papers and glanced up at Bobby.

"Yeah, that sucked," Bobby muttered.

"We injected heavy sedatives to help you all sleep, especially you Ms. Munroe—with your nightmares." Ororo nodded. "Ms. Jubilee and Marie are also on sedatives to help them sleep. It will take longer for her to fully recuperate because of her high fever. It's difficult to control it since it was developed from the infected wound on her shoulder."

"Jubilee's breathing is kinda heavy. Is that normal?" I asked.

"Yes. Jubilee also suffered, from what I'm reading here, the first stage of hypothermia. It made it harder for her to breath. In her case, Jubilee was burning up from the fever, burning to the touch, but at the same time, she was shivering uncontrollably. So she felt the cold, but when you touched her, she was burning. Everything was all scrambled up."

"Will she be alright?" Ororo asked.

"Oh yes, there is nothing you have to worry about. Jubilee is a strong young woman. Your doctor, Dr. Kingston, says she has been doing quite well. Her fever has gone down and her shoulder is healing."

"What about Marie?" Bobby asked. "When can we see her? Is she okay?"

"Miss D'Ancanto was the worst of the lot." Jackman shook his head. "She broke three ribs and suffered internal bleeding. But that's been taken care of. They suspected a collapsed lung but fortunately, that turned out not to be true. But she did however suffer from the _second_ stage of hypothermia. She lost feeling to her arms and her whole body was about to shut down. We also found out that she had the flu prior to the crash and that helped cause the pneumonia."

"The flu? She said it was just sinuses," I asked in shock. "She didn't even look sick. I mean, she sounded congested here and there, but nothing too serious."

"At first, those particular symptoms don't look too threatening—which makes you want to believe its sinuses or just a little virus," Jackman started with a simple shrug. "But because it wasn't treated and literally slept on, it just got worse." He nodded. "I've also had Doctor George O'Malley and Doctor Isabelle Stevens to take Miss Jubilee and D'Ancanto to a separate room—so they can be treated there." We all nodded—even though I thought it was unfair.

I sighed heavily and shook my head. "So, why exactly did you tell us all of our symptoms?" I asked and scrunched up my face in confusion. "I mean, I don't…I don't really get why."

"I wanted you all to know exactly what happened to you, in case there was any confusion with your conditions. Dr. Grey told me of them, and she was certainly on the right track, but there were just a few things added in there. Dr. Kingston, who is my boss; your doctor, wanted me to tell you all your conditions, and what we're doing to treat them," Jackman explained.

"That's easy enough, I guess," Scott mumbled sadly. I sighed and glanced over at him but my attention was returned to Jackman when he cleared his throat.

"Are there any questions?" Silence. "Are you able to walk out of here and back to the hospital comfortably, Logan?" Jackman asked me as he started to gather all of his work. I nodded.

"I may be an old-fart, Doc, but ain't nothin' gonna stop me. I'm too stubborn to quit," I explained and took a huge bite out of my burger. Jackman chuckled, and after we said our goodbyes, Bobby and Scott sat in front of Jean and I, while Ororo sat in between everyone. "The girls'll be fine, Drake."

"Yeah," he started softy and sighed. "I hope so too," Bobby said, practically reading my mind. I chuckled and unfortunately lost my appetite.

After we got back to the hospital, I found myself unable to get the girls out of my head. I walked into the hospital, with Bobby's help, and walked to one of the nurses who had been with Jubilee and Marie since we arrived. "Do you think I can see them?"

"Not right now, Logan," the Doctor, Cassandra, told me with a shake of her head. I sighed heavily and she placed her hand gently on my cheek and smiled sadly at me. I had to admit she was a very lovely girl, although she wasn't into men. She was as tall as me, has breath taking blue eyes, a gorgeous smile, long flowing dirty blond hair and baby-butt smooth skin---and also had the occasional British accent. "Marie and Jubilee are still ill and probably will be for the next few days…maybe even weeks."

"Dr. Dain," I started and pulled her hand from my rather sore shoulder and sighed heavily. "Please…I just need to see 'em"

"Logan," Cassandra started and sighed. "Normally I would…but if I do, it could cost me my job…and right now I can't afford to get fired. I know you want to see your friends, and I'm sorry. Dr. Kingston's orders."

I let go of her hand and looked into her baby blue eyes. "I…" I started but stopped myself. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and hung my head low and shook my head slightly. "Yeah, fine," I grunted and started to limp back into my room but was stopped when I felt a warm hand on my arm.

"Follow me," Cassandra said and held her index finger to her lips and started to walk away but all of us were stopped when Scott decided to complain.

"What?" Scott asked and shook his head. "No, we can't. You'll get fired."

"Mr. Summers..." she started rather firmly and faced him. That put a smirk on my face. "For once…don't complain." Scott sighed heavily and nodded at Dr. Dain's demand and the six of us walked to where Jubilee and Marie were kept. We all looked in the window and I sighed sadly. "You can go in if you like."

"What about you?" Ororo asked and looked at Cassandra.

"I'm gonna get back to work. There are other lives I have to save, y'know," she said with a smirk. "If you are seen back here…just tell 'em the truth."

"That you took us back here even though you knew you weren't supposed to," Bobby stated.

"No," Cassandra said with a shake of her head. "Simply state that you needed to walk around the hospital…and you found them here."

"But that wouldn't be the truth," Scott pointed out.

"Scott," Cassandra said and narrowed her eyes slightly. "I did not bring you here. Just remember that."

"Oh!" Scott called out and nodded. "Now I got'ch ya," he said and chuckled. "Sorry I had a blonde moment." Cassandra glared slightly—as did I. "No offense."

After a few moments later, Dr. Dain left us and I was the first to walk into the room. The room was set at a rather comfortable temperature and both girls seemed to be pretty comfy too. I kneeled down at Marie's bed and smiled down at her. "Hey kiddo," I whispered. She opened her eyes and gasped.

"Logan!" she called out softly. "Oh my God! What are you guys doing back here? You're not allowed to come see us."

"We just had to. We've all been concerned about you two," Jean stated with a smile. "Mainly Logan."

I blushed slightly and hung my head low. Bobby walked to Marie and kissed her extremely gently. "Hey baby," he whispered and hugged her. I walked to Jubilee and smiled.

"Hey Wolvster."

"Hey kid."

"Alright!" we all hear and turn around simultaneously. "Who's ready for their med---" a male doctor named Doctor O'Malley, called out and looked up at us. "What are you guys doin' in here?" he asked and cleared his throat. Suddenly I felt like a little boy being scolded by his father. "You five aren't supposed to be in here."

"Well, we just got done in a meeting with Dr. Jackman," Jean started off and looked at Ororo.

"And we came back in here and started to walk around…you know, t'exercise," Ororo said and looked at Bobby.

"I grabbed a bagel on the way," he said and looked at Scott.

"And being the person that he is, Logan saw this room and just had to check it out," he said and glanced at me. I nodded and shrugged. "Then we realized it was the girls' room and…got caught up."

The doctor nodded and sighed heavily. "Ten minutes." he stated firmly and left the room.

I smiled and turned back to Jubilee and removed the strands of hair from her face and she smiled. "How you feelin'?"

"I could be better, but at least I'm warm," she told me and nodded. "Marie and I've been askin' about you guys but…they didn't tell us anything."

I nodded and sighed. "Same here," I grunted in annoyance.

"Don't worry guys," Ororo called out and walked toward the beds and crossed her arms. "You two'll be outta this room before you know it," she said confidently. Marie and Jubilee smiled in reply. "I know it."

"How are you Logan?" Marie asked me. I turned to her and inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

"Fine," I grunted.

Marie raised her eyebrow at me and narrowed her eyes slightly. "You don't look fine. You look like shit hit the fan," she commented. "Twice."

"Thanks kid," I grunted again and nodded slightly. "I'll be fine." Truth be told, I didn't feel fine. Not fine at all. It was a few moments of silence between the two of us and Bobby decided to change the subject. Brownie points for him. After a few minutes of catching up, laughing, and just having a good time—the doctor came back into the room.

"Alright guys, it's time."

"But I don't wanna go," Bobby complained and slightly pouted. I placed my hand on his shoulder and looked at him before glancing back at the doctor.

"C'mon Drake," I mumbled and squeezed his shoulder slightly. Ororo was the first to say her goodbyes to the girls. Scott and Jean followed second. Bobby kissed Marie sweetly and hugged her lovingly. I looked at Marie and touched her gloved hand and smiled at her. "Be good kid," I told her and started to walk away but was stopped when she pulled me to her.

"Logan wait—"

"Miss D'Ancanto, please, they really must be going," the doctor called out. I looked away from Marie and to the doctor, and then looked back at Marie.

"Logan…" Marie started and looked into my eyes. I looked into hers and furrowed my brows tightly.

"Miss Marie!" The doctor called out.

"Will you please hold on a minute?" I yelled out firmly. The doctor looked at me firmly and looked away. I turned back to Marie. "What is it, darlin'?"

"Promise me you'll be there when Jubes and I get outta here," she whispered. I looked at her and my throat tightened up. "You have to promise me you won't give up—that you have to keep fighting this."

"Yeah," I grumbled and nodded in response.

"No. I want to hear you say it."

I looked into Marie's dark brown eyes for a few moments and felt tears begin to form in my eyes. I blinked them away and sighed heavily. "I promise."

----

--One Week Later--

I sighed heavily, looking out my window. I watched as it snowed heavily and then stop suddenly and I knew Ororo was having some fun with her mutation. I had to chuckle at her happiness, but I started to lose hope on my part. I hung my head low and felt my throat tighten up slowly. A tear fell. I wiped it quickly and exhaled deeply. "Logan…"

"I'm fine," I grunted and cleared my throat right after. Thing was, I wasn't fine—even though that's what I told myself every morning when I looked at myself in the mirror. _Everything's gonna be fine._

"Logan…"

"What?" I asked in annoyance and spun around, finding Scott in my room. "What?" I repeated firmly.

"What ever happened to the whole 'I'm too stubborn to quit' thing you said?" he asked me, shut the door behind him and crossed his arms.

"What the fuck are you talkin' about?" I asked and fully turned to him, crossing my arms and furrowing my eyebrows in complete confusion.

"A week ago you told Dr. Jackman that you are too stubborn t'quit," Scott told me firmly. I narrowed my eyes, furrowed my brows and opened my mouth to speak but was stopped abruptly when Scott moved toward me quickly with his hand outstretched. "But looking at you right now, it makes me think otherwise."

I scoffed and shook my head. "Stop bein' so damn ludicrous, Scott."

"Logan, I can tell by the look on your face that you've already given up hope," he told me firmly. I looked at him and scoffed in a chuckling matter and rolled my eyes, turning back to the window. "Think about it Logan," he started and put his hand on my forearm to turn me to him. I sighed heavily and pulled him off. "I hear you crying at night---"

"Shut up!" I growled and turned to him.

"…I bet you could cry right now…couldn't you?" he asked me softly. I looked at him, narrowed my eyes and furrowed my eyebrows tightly. "Admit it Logan, you're all torn up inside."

I faced the window, and crossed my arms. I hadn't said anything to him in quite a while as the words repeated nonstop in my mind. "What the fuck are you tryin' t'prove Scott?" I asked him loudly and turned to him. "And why the fuck would I admit anything t'you?" I asked. A tear fell.

"You promised Marie, Logan. Remember?" Scott asked me and shrugged his shoulders. "What about Samantha? Huh? What, you're just gonna give up on them just like you gave up on yourself?!" He yelled at me.

"Fuck you Scott! You don't know half of the shit I've gone through in the past week. So just go screw yourself!" I yelled back—but I knew that every word he spoke was true. I was just too damn stubborn, and hurt, to want to believe it.

"You know what?" Scott started firmly—all sensitivity out the window. "You're such a fucking asshole sometimes, you know that? Here I am trying to help you out---"

"Yeah, you're doin' a real bang up job there, Scotty," I told him. "Tellin' me my faults is _really_ helpin' me out."

"---and there you go…shovin' it in my face! I don't know why I even give a shit about you," he told me. I looked at him. "You're so ungrateful---I'm trying to help you get it through your thick skull that you have a family out there waiting for you! We're all still here because you're still sick, Logan. That's why I'm here. And if you don't even care….then fuck you." Scott left the room, slamming the door behind him.

I exhaled deeply and tears formed in my eyes and poured down my face slowly. My heart ached. My head began to throb. And I felt alone…once more. I walked slowly to my bed and just before I got to it, I fell to my knees and cried as hard as I could. The bedroom door opened and heard someone rush to me. "Logan…breathe…"

----

"Logan?" I hear. I opened my eyes but the blinding light caused me to grimace and close them again. "Logan…I need you to wake up. Can you open your eyes for me?" a woman's voice called out to me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and blinked them several times, trying to get used to the light. But, because my eyes were apparently very sensitive, so it took a few moments. "Where---wh---what happened?" I asked tiredly.

"You blacked out," Ororo called out and gently rubbed my forehead.

"I blacked out?" I asked and furrowed my eyebrows and tried to sit up. Of course my attempt at doing so only caused me to become rather dizzy and fall back into Ororo's arms. Thankfully Ororo caught me in the nick of time, or I would have busted my head against the floor again. I sighed heavily and gently placed my hand to my forehead and grunted slightly. "Damn…my head hurts..."

"Would you like me to get a nurse for you, Logan?" I hear Jean ask me. I opened my eyes and looked over Ororo's shoulders, where the beautiful redhead stood. I nodded slightly and laid my head back in Ororo's lap. "Alright, I'll be back in a moment."

I sighed heavily again and after a few seconds, I opened my eyes again and looked around the room for Scott. I noticed he wasn't in the room with us, and I furrowed my eyebrows at the thought. "Where the hell is Scotty?"

"He's hanging out with Jubilee and Marie in their room," Ororo explained to me. "He stormed out of the room and told me the two of you had an argument…"

"What's so surprising about that?" I asked and looked over at her and she raised an eyebrow. "We had an argument…so what?" I asked and looked away from her. I shook my head slightly at the situation Scott and I were in moments before I had my little black out and was about to explain to Ororo what happened, but was interrupted when Jean arrived with a nurse.

"Hello Logan," the nurse called out and knelt down beside Ororo and smiled. I turned and faced her and sighed again—trying to catch my breath. "Jean tells me you blacked out?"

"Yeah," I told the nurse, Isabelle Stevens, and nodded. "It was right after Scott and I had an argument."

"Is your head in any pain?" she asked me and looked from her chart and into my eyes. I nodded in response. "I see that you haven't slept well in a few days. I can give you some morphine to help with the pain for your head and to help you sleep, if you'd like..."

"Yeah, let's do that," I hear. I turn my attention to the door and noticed the voice belonged to Scott. I grunted, rolled my eyes and shook my head. "I think it'll help him out."

"Excuse me? Can't I make my own damn decisions?" I asked and sat up. Scott glanced over at me for a slight moment before returning his gaze back to the green eyed nurse. "I am a big boy, Scott, I think I can make my own decisions."

"Well with the way things have been going with you lately, I seriously doubt that," Scott told me firmly and walked to me. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and shook my head and my thoughts were simply interrupted when he put his arms around my waist and helped me to my feet. He walked me to my bed and I sat down and glanced over at him. "For once Logan, just take my damn advice. I think I know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, you think you know what you're talkin' about, but really you have no fuckin' idea what's best for me!" I yelled out at him while shaking my head.

"Logan…" Jean called out and held her hands out.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Scott asked me and furrowed his brows tightly.

"Scott…" Ororo called out and crossed her arms.

"I means, Scott, you're not the brightest crayon in the box!" I yelled out. "I'm sick and tired of you making decisions for me. I've been around longer than you; I think I'm capable of making my own decisions."

"Logan," Jean called out more firmly, but I ignored her anyways.

"Yeah, and sometimes you make really stupid decisions," he grumbled to me and crossed his arms.

"Scott!" Ororo called out in annoyance.

"Oh, and you haven't?" I asked and furrowed my brows tightly. "Scott, what's the point in giving me the advice if you know I'm not going to take it?" I asked him and repositioned myself on the bed and sighed heavily. "I mean, you were even the one who told me you don't know why you give a shit about me. So why waste the breath in advising me if you know I'm not even gonna take it?"

Scott sighed heavily and looked down for a few moments. I sighed heavily, ran my fingers through my hair and shook my head. "Logan…"

"You know what? I don't even wanna hear it. Why don't you just get out if you don't give a shit?" I asked and looked up at him. He furrowed his eyebrows slightly and hung his head low again and cleared his throat.

"I only try and advise you because I do care, Logan," Scott told me as his throat tightened slightly. "I'm just sick and tired of you believing that I don't care---"

"You told me yourself you didn't care," I told him firmly as my throat tightened up. "So yeah, I'm gonna believe it if you tell me."

"I didn't mean it Logan, we were arguing for crying out loud!" Scott yelled and looked over at me—arms flying around wildly. I looked at Scott for a few moments and shook my head in return. I hadn't wanted to hear his excuses as to why he said what he said…even if what he said wasn't true…it still pissed me off.

I sighed heavily and lay on my bed and waited for Isabelle to inject me with the morphine. I watched as she gathered what she needed to poke and prod me with the needle, and while she did so, I turned and faced Jean and Scott talking quietly to each other on the other end of the room. Ororo, on the other hand, sat down in a chair beside my bed and yawned.

I had to admit, it was a pretty tiring day…and I think the morphine is going to be my best friend in a few minutes. I sighed heavily and watched as Isabelle walked toward me with the needle in hand and put it in my right arm. Seconds passed…and slowly (and pleasurably) I fell into darkness.

Only this time…I like it.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The darkness began to fade as the morphine wore off. Slowly, I opened my eyes and the brightness of the room caused me to close them again. I winced in pain and grunted slightly as I slowly opened them once more. I blinked a few times to get use to the light and once I did, I heard my bedroom door open. I looked to the door and found the others walking in--including Marie and Jubes. "Hey guys," I called out tiredly and yawned. They all turned to me, their smiles fading immediately. "What? Do I have a booger in my nose?" I asked and reached for my nose when I realized it was a different matter. "What?"

"Holy shit…" Scott grumbled. "I…I mean…you…uh….Logan you…" he started and pointed at me.

"What?!" I called out and furrowed my eyebrows and looked at everyone. "Don't tell me I have a spider on me or something," I said and brushed off my arms, and ran my fingers through my hair. Sure I was rough and tough…but when it came down to spiders…oh my God.

"No Logan…" Jean started and chuckled—along with Jubilee and Ororo. "…you're back," Jean told me with a smile.

Marie walked to the bathroom and grabbed a mirror. She walked quickly back to my bed and held up the mirror. "Look."

I looked into the mirror and found someone inside I had truly missed. "Holy shit…" I mumbled and grabbed the mirror. The others laughed and I too couldn't help but join them. Now I understand Scott's stuttering. "Look at that," I said and touched my face gently. I looked into my eyes and although they still looked tired---they were alive…"Where's Sam?"

"In the shower," Jubilee called out and walked to the bed with her arms crossed. I looked over at her and set the mirror down. "Doctor Kingston is sending us home today," she said as tears formed in her eyes.

"What?" I asked and narrowed my eyes. "But what about me?" I asked and pointed at my chest.

"What about you?" Scott asked and shook his head before approaching the bed fully. "Logan, you look great!"

"Yeah but that doesn't mean anything," I told him firmly. "Just because I look good doesn't mean my health is better than it—" I started out but was cut off when Doctor Kingston, himself, came into the room with Doctor Dain, and Nurse Isabelle. I furrowed my eyebrows at them.

"Hello Logan," Kingston called out with a chart in hand. I glanced at the chart and then back at him. I nodded in response. "I hope you received the news about going home?"

"Yeah," I grunted with another nod. "But Doc, I don't think that's fair…I mean look at me."

"Yeah, you look great," Dain called out with a smile. I turned to her and smiled.

"Thanks," I said to her and sighed heavily. "But what about my head?" I asked and pointed at my head.

"Logan, I came in here earlier and your head is just fine," Isabelle told me with a smile. "I think the morphine did it for you."

"How?" I asked and shook my head in complete confusion.

Dain sighed and simply shrugged. "To tell you the truth, Logan, we're not sure how it happened—because you're unique. Your body has this ability to heal when wounded. We, as doctors, have never helped out people of your state—meaning Mutants. But whatever the morphine did—it worked. Logan you're back."

It took a few moments to process everything Kingston, Dain, and Stevens told me. I was still confused and yet I wanted to believe them. The others, excluding Samantha, saw a difference in my appearance—as did I. But was I really back? "I really hope you guys are right."

"In fact we are," O'Malley called out as he too entered the room. We all turned to him and he held up a small pocket knife. "Before you awoke, Kingston, Dain, Stevens and I came in here to check on you. That was when we saw the rather dramatic change in your appearance. So we tested to see if what we saw was true."

"How did you do that?" Ororo asked and furrowed her eyebrows. Thing was, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know or not. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and looked from Ororo to O'Malley.

"Do you see this?" O'Malley asked and held up the knife. We all nodded in reply. "Kingston simply took your arm, and made a small incision. It healed…slowly…but surely."

"So this means you will need physical therapy to strengthen your bones," Stevens added and turned her attention to Dain.

"We too suggest mental therapy, because of the trauma," she explained and turned to Kingston.

"And because you have been doing so well…" he started and smiled. "We are letting you all go home." I nodded in response and sighed heavily. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and hung my head low—not really sure what to say to all of this.

"What…" I started but stopped myself. I turned to Kingston and hesitated before continuing. "Are you positive I'm fine?" I asked. I had to admit---I was terrified. I was on the verge of dying then all of a sudden this miracle happened before my eyes. What do you say or do with that?

"Logan…" Dain said and walked to me. She took my hands and kissed them gently. I looked into her blue eyes and she into mine. "There is absolutely nothing you need to worry about. Your head…it's as though nothing ever happened to it. No scars. Nothing."

Samantha came into the room quietly—almost as though she hadn't known we were all in here. And once she looked up at us…I guess she hadn't. "Oh!" she gasped and grabbed her chest. "I didn't see you---" she started but was stopped when her green eyes met mine. "Logan…" she whispered.

"Oh…" I looked at her and my heart pounded heavily. I pulled away from Dain's grip and pulled Samantha into my arms as quick as I could. I kissed her passionately and hugged her tightly. "Sammy…"

"Logan," Samantha whispered and pulled away—and looked at me. I smiled at her and she rested her soft hand on my cheek. "Your eyes…they're so alive."

"And they're lookin' at you, baby," I told her and a tear formed in her eye. "By God are they lookin' at you. You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen in the longest time." I rested my forehead on hers and chuckled. "I love you so much."

"I love you," she whispered and ran her fingers through my hair and I closed my eyes at the pleasurable feeling. Shivers ran up and down my spine—goosebumps covered my entire body.

"The Doctors said we can go home," I told her and kissed her nose. "So the both of us can finally sleep in our bed again," I called out almost excitedly. "But I'm tired of sleeping." She laughed. And I laughed. I missed her laugh.

"It's good to see you again," she whispered and kissed my nose. She pulled away after a few moments and looked into my eyes. "Logan there's something I need to tell you."

"What?" I asked and looked into her green eyes. I smiled at her.

"I'm pregnant."

I raised my eyebrows in response to her sudden news and took a step back. I furrowed my brows tightly and tilted my head to the side and inhaled---readying to reply, but found myself unable to speak. "Uh," I grunted and looked back into Samantha's green eyes. "You're….what?" I asked her and blinked a few times.

"I'm pregnant," she repeated with a slight chuckle. "Lately, I've been having weird cravings for food, and I've been real tired, so I took a pregnancy test. Outcome: positive. I told Kingston and he told me I was about a month and two weeks in after doing some testing."

I listened to her reasoning intently and still found myself shocked at the news. "Why---why didn't you tell me?" I asked her firmly—my eyebrows still furrowed.

Her smile faded quickly and her eyebrows furrowed tightly. "I didn't want to tell you immediately because I was still so surprised. And I didn't want you to over-react and somehow hurt your head." I nodded in understanding.

"So…I'm gonna be a dad," I told her and crossed my arms, and sighed heavily. I hated to admit it, but I sounded almost bored.

The look on Samantha's face, however, seemed to be almost saddened to see my reaction. Thing was, I was happy. Just extremely shocked. "Baby…" she started but stopped when tears began to form in her eyes. "I just thought you'd be happy," she whispered softly and hung her head low.

I hugged Samantha tightly and buried my face in her neck. She didn't wrap her arms around me at first and I sighed heavily. "Sweetheart, I'm very, very proud of you," I told her lovingly. I pulled away and looked into her eyes. "And I'm very, very happy…I'm just shocked, is all." She nodded. "Baby, we're gonna have a kid."

She nodded in reply and I smiled at her. "I'm gonna be a daddy and you're gonna be the hottest momma on the block!" I told her and she chuckled loudly. I grabbed either side of her face and sighed. "I love you."

"I love you."

I kissed her passionately and looked into her eyes. "Let's go home, shall we?"

"Do let's."

----

"Logan!" Scott yelled out to me and came into my room. There I was staring out my window—just standing there. I sure hate hospitals…but I know I'd miss Dain. She was a great girl. "Logan?" Scott called out. "You alright, buddy?"

"Yeah…" I grunted—being brought back into reality. "Yeah, I'm comin'," I told him and sighed heavily. I turned around to face him and he smirked at me. "How are we gettin' outta here?"

"We're taking a truck," Scott told me and nodded. "Police escort."

"Oh…goody," I said sarcastically and walked towards the door. Scott rested his hand on my shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze before rushing out of the hospital. I guess he hated hospitals too.

"Why can't I ride with you two?" Jubilee asked Bobby.

"C'mon Jubes…I would like to spend some time with my girlfriend for a few hours without you! Ride with Ororo."

"I don't want to ride with Ororo!" Jubilee called out. I stopped in my tracks and watched the two argue. Marie just stood there in the middle and chuckled. "I wanna ride with---"

"Jubes," Bobby started. "You were with Marie the entire time we were in this hospital!" Bobby called out loudly. "Just ride with 'Ro. I'm sure she'll love the company."

Jubilee huffed, grunted a few words I couldn't make out, crossed her arms. "Fine. I will." She left the hospital's double doors with Ororo at her side.

"Hey Logan," I hear from behind me. I raised my eyebrows at the sudden voice and turned around—finding a blue eyed beauty standing before me. I smiled. She ran to me and hugged me tightly. "I'm gonna miss you," she cried out. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you too, kiddo," I said and buried my face in her warm neck and sighed heavily. Tears formed in my eyes and I didn't want to let go. I guess you could say Dain was my favorite doctor. She helped me out in ways I didn't think were possible.

"Oh!" Dain called out suddenly and pulled away. "Congrats on the whole pregnancy thing!"

"Thanks," I said happily and nodded. "I'm real excited."

"Have any names planned out?" She asked with a wink. I smirked and knew where she was getting at. "Okay, okay…so you don't _have _to name it after me. That's okay---I'll understand. Even though I was practically the one who brought you back…but---"

"Cassie," I interrupted and she looked at me. I raised an eyebrow in return and she sighed heavily back. The double doors to the front entrance opened revealing Scott and Bobby. I turned to them and nodded. "I gotta go," I grunted and hugged Cassandra one last time. "You take care of yourself, okay?"

"You too," she told me and smiled. "Alright get outta here," she said and gave me a slight push towards the door. I chuckled at her and walked to the double doors where Bobby and Scott waited. When I reached the double doors, I turned to give Cassandra one last smile—but she wasn't there when I turned around to face her. Scott placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze before walking away.

"Logan?" Bobby called out. I turned to him and raised my brows. "You alright?"

"I'm more than alright, kid," I told him and nodded slightly and patted his back before walking passed him. He nodded and quickly followed behind.

----

Ororo sat in the police truck in between Bobby Drake and Jubilation Lee---where the two bickered nonstop. She looked over at Logan, who was too busy flirting with his pregnant fiancé to even pay attention, Scott and Jean, who were sleeping soundly, and Marie—who chuckled the entire time. Why Marie found everything funny, Ororo wasn't quite sure. It could be because it didn't hurt her sides to laugh, talk, or even breathe now that she's better.

Ororo shook her head closed her eyes. All she wanted was a good nap before arriving back at the X-Mansion in Westchester, New York. "Do you know how long it's going to be before we get there?" Ororo called out to the officer in the driver seat. He chuckled.

"A few hours, Ms. Munroe," Officer Sloan called out and winked playfully at her in the rear-view mirror. She smirked and leaned back and sighed heavily. She shook her head and sighed heavily before resting her head on the headrest behind her. She closed her eyes and slowly---darkness engulfed her.

----

"'Ro!" Scott called out and shook Ororo's leg. Ororo woke up and looked around her. Scott chuckled. "C'mon we're at a gas station. You gotta pee?"

Ororo furrowed her eyebrows tightly and narrowed her eyes before answering. "I don't know," she grumbled and yawned. She stretched and climbed out of the car with Officer Sloan's help and smiled at him. "Thanks."

"No problem," Sloan said and smirked back. "If you want some snacks, you might wanna grab 'em now. We're headin' back on the road real soon."

"Okay," Ororo said in mid-yawn and nodded. She walked away, still yawning, and walked into the store. I turned to her and smirked before turning back to Marie and Jubilee. Ororo walked to the chip isle and grabbed some Doritos, Fritos, Lays Baked potato chips and some candy. As she gathered all her stuff and walked to the front counter, I chuckled.

"Got 'nough stuff there, 'Ro?" I asked and glanced down at her stuff before looking back into her eyes.

"There's three teenagers, you, and a pregnant woman in that truck…what do you think?" she asked.

"I'll take that as a no," I said and chuckled before taking a swig of my beer. I threw my beer away and wiped my mouth. "I'm gonna grab some more stuff."

"Hurry up, we're leaving soon!" she called out as I walked away. She paid for her items and walked back to the truck where Jean, Scott, the kids, and Sloan stood.

"Got enough stuff?" Jean asked and raised an eyebrow.

"I'll tell you what I told Logan," Ororo started. "There's three teenagers, that big gorilla, and a pregnant woman---"

"Oh…got'ch ya," Jean said and chuckled. Samantha came out of the store and sighed heavily.

"We all ready?" she asked and rested her hands on her waist as I came out with two more bags. She turned and faced me. "What the hell is all that?" she asked, pointing at the bags.

"Food."

"Logan, seriously," Samantha called out and raised an eyebrow. "Jubes got like three bags of candy, Scott got three bags of breakfast foods, Ororo got chips, I got more chips, Bobby and Marie got Little Debbie cakes, and you got fried chicken, French fries, corn dogs, some biscuits and beer?"

"Pretty much," I said with a smirk. "Like Ororo said…there's three teenagers, me, and a pregnant woman on board…"

"C'mon baby you don't have to say it like that," Samantha called out.

"Have you had the hospital's food?"

"No," Samantha said and shook her head.

"Exactly. We have. It sucked. We're hungry." I nodded at her and loaded myself into the Police SUV and placed what items I bought in my lap. I looked out the window and watched as everyone piled into the vehicle. I sighed heavily and Samantha climbed over the back seats and sat next to me and smiled. "You okay?" I asked and smirked slightly.

Samantha bounced slightly in her chair and laced her fingers together. I furrowed my eyebrows at her silliness and chuckled slightly. "Logan, you're gonna be a dad."

"Yeah…" I called out slowly. "I know---"

"And I'm gonna be a mom."

"Pretty much," I said and nodded. I narrowed my eyes and fully turned to her in my seat. "Are you okay with this?" I asked and she turned to me—tears in her eyes. "Sam---"

"I'm kinda scared," she said wiped her eyes. "I mean, I've…I've never had a kid before."

"Neither have I, Sam," I told her and rested my hand on her shoulder. "Baby, everything's gonna be fine."

"Logan, I don't know how to take care of a baby," she told me and sighed heavily.

"And you think I do?" I asked and chuckled. "Baby," I called out and she turned to me fully. "We're gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine."

----

"Hey…Dipshit…" I hear. I grunted in response, but the only thing I got in return was a rough shaking of my leg. I opened my eye and found Scott leaning toward me. I furrowed my eyebrows tightly and opened my other eye. "We're taking a break," he told me and yawned.

"Sorry Scott," I grunted and fumbled out of the car and stretched. "But you've never been my type." Samantha chuckled.

Scott rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, you smartass, we're staying at a hotel. Sloan needs to sleep," he told me and started walking to the hotel where Jean stood. I yawned and looked over at Samantha and held my hand out to her.

"C'mon, baby," I said and she took my hand. We all walked to the rather small hotel and went to our assigned rooms. The kids had to share a room with Ororo, while the couples had their own rooms. Scott and Jean were in a corner room, Ororo and the kids in the middle room, and finally me and Samantha on the other corner. I could hear Bobby and Jubilee bickering over who would have to sleep with Ororo through the paper thin walls.

"You rode next to her the whole way here, Bobby Drake," Jubilee was arguing. Bobby spoke too softly for me to hear his reply, but based on the soft thuds, shrill squeals, and Ororo and Marie's loud laughter, it must not have been something that Jubilee agreed with.

I chuckled lightly and looked at Samantha. "Good to know some things will never change," I laughed as I sat down on the bed. Samantha stayed where she was and just beamed at me. I looked up at her and smirked. "You alright—" I started but she slowly untied her silk robe. I raised an eyebrow and my smirk widened.

"C'mon over here, Logan," she told me and smiled. "I wanna show you something." I chuckled and climbed off the bed and slowly walked half way and she met me in the middle.

I wrapped my arms around her bare waist, lowered my mouth to her sweet and smooth lips and kissed her deeply. After a few moments, I pulled my lips away and looked her in the eyes. "What's gotten into you?"

"Nothin'," she said innocently, as she slowly grabbed my shirt and un-tucked it from my pants. I looked into her eyes while she did so. She ran her nails gently down my back, shoulders to waist, then back up. When she made the return trip to my waist this time, she applied a bit of pressure. Shivers ran down my spine and my smirk turned into a grin. "You want to?" she asked with a raised brow.

"What about the kids? I mean, don't you think they'd hear you?" I asked and she pulled away from me.

"Hey, mister, you make some noises too. Don't be blamin' it all on me," she said with a smirk, and pointed at her bare chest. I licked my lips and walked to her, wrapping my arms around her once more. "Oh, now you're gonna try and suck up?"

"Pretty much," I growled and kissed her neck gently. She shivered excitedly, wrapped her arms around my neck and moaned in my ear. I chuckled at her pleasure and nibbled her earlobe playfully. Next thing I knew, she was fiddling with my belt.

"Take off your pants," she whispered seductively in my ear.

"Wait a minute," I grunted and grabbed her wrists. "Let's take it slow. I just got outta the hospital."

"Take it slow…" she repeated.

"Yeah."

"You wanna take it slow." She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"That's what I said." I nodded. She furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you doin'?"

"I'm being a doer. Getting while the getting's good. Now take off your pants."

"You realize when I said the apocalypse earlier in the truck; I meant it metaphorically, not literally."

"Logan, I haven't had sex with you in a month. I'm horny, I'm mostly naked, and I'm saying yes. Do you want to stand there and talk metaphors, or do you want to literally take off your pants?"

I chuckled at her words and held my hands up in defense. Samantha crossed her arms and threw her hip out to one side, and that usually meant I was in either: deep shit or I had better come up with a good excuse. "Baby, calm down," I said calmly and walked to her, gently resting my hands on her bare arms. "We can have sex. We just, y'know…gotta take things slow. We can't be all rough and shit."

She raised an eyebrow and leaned to her other side. "And why not?" she asked and raised the other brow. I raised my brows at her kinkiness. "You didn't complain before."

I blushed. My eyes widened and I was completely speechless. "I—Wel—You—See, what had happened was---" I stammered. I had nothing to say. And even if I did have something---I sucked at the attempt of trying to say it. "That was…you know…before." I closed my eyes and blushed redder.

"Then what's your problem?" Samantha asked and rested her hands on my chest. I smiled and grabbed her wrists but before I could do anything further, she walked towards me, causing me to walk backwards—and when I felt something hard against the backs of my knees, I knew I was at the bed. I faced the bed for a moment and then turned back to her. She smiled and pushed me onto the bed, causing me to grunt the moment I landed. I furrowed my eyebrows and watched as she smiled and fiddled with my belt. I watched in full pleasure as she ran her fingertips up my sides and down to the pants and pulled at them. After they were off, she stood to her full height and smiled as she slowly took off her shirt.

I raised an eyebrow at the sight of Sammy standing half naked before me. A small smirk spread slowly across my lips as I leaned back on the bed—my elbows and forearms holding me up while Samantha climbed onto the bed and over me before straddling me. She leaned down slowly, running her fingertips across my stomach and chest before kissing my neck tenderly, causing me to moan slightly. I caressed her back, unsnapping her bra with a simple snap of my fingers. Sam pulled away from me and slowly pulled her bra off, revealing her astounding breasts. As I licked my lips in thought and pleasure, I carefully took her breasts in hand and caressed them gently. I sat up slowly and pulled her closer to me and kissed her neck, giving it a small nibble here and there. Samantha, in return, pulled my hair slightly with every moan escaping.

I placed my hand gently on the small of her back and laid her on her back. She chuckled as I kissed her neck, chest and stomach playfully. I caressed her pant covered legs and gently slid off her flats. When her shoes here completely off, I went straight for her belt. As I fiddled with the belt, rather teasingly I might add, I kissed her breasts mischievously, grabbing her nipples with my lips and gently with my teeth. Every so often, my eyes met hers and smirked seductively. Samantha gasped for air, whispering my name. Once the belt was undone, I climbed off the bed and tugged at her jeans. After a few seconds, I threw the jeans to the other side of the bed and stood to my full height. I grabbed one of Sam's legs and kissed it from ankle to thigh---of each leg. Once I reached her thigh from her second leg, I playfully grabbed her under garments and tugged at them every so often. "Logan…" Samantha moaned in a whisper. Slowly, I pulled them off and climbed on top of her and she wrapped her legs around my waist.

Samantha smiled as I kissed her neck, tugged on her hair, and caressed her body tenderly. She, in return, gave my arms; back and neck a small firm rub or scratch to show her appreciation. I pulled away after a few moments and stood on my knees, pulling my shirt off. Samantha smirked and bit her bottom lip as she reached for my boxered legs and gave my outer thighs a scratch, urging more for. I smiled and slowly pulled my boxers down. Samantha's eyes wandered slowly—taking a gander at my entire muscular body and when her eyes met my manhood---an eyebrow raised and a smile spread across her face.

I smiled and climbed back over Samantha and grabbed her hip firmly with my free hand as I slowly entered her body. Unhurriedly, I made love to her, kissing her neck and lips tenderly and lovingly in the process. "Logan…" Samantha moaned a little louder as my tempo increased---the pleasure building inside her. "Oh…" Samantha moaned. "Don't stop." And I wasn't planning to.

And the fun is just beginning…

Or…it was about to.

The door opened, revealing Scott. "Oh!" he called out and covered his eyes. "Uh….yeah," he muttered before quickly leaving the room. I sighed heavily and looked down at Samantha.

"C'mon…" she whispered and caressed my back. I sighed slightly in return. "Logan…" she called out firmly. I rolled off of her and shook my head in annoyance. "Don't tell me you can't get it up," she muttered and sat up. I looked over at her and scoffed.

"Well if that asshole didn't barge in, I'd have it up for as long as you want!" I yelled out at her. I sighed heavily and looked away. "Baby, I'm sorry." She raised an eyebrow and climbed off the bed, wrapping her silk robe around her. "Oh, c'mon Sam. You can't be mad," I grunted firmly.

"What do you think?" she asked and walked to the bathroom. I followed her quickly but before I could stop her, she slammed the door in my face. "I'm taking a shower."

"What?" I called out and scrunched up my face in frustration. "No, baby…c'mon." I asked sweetly and put my hand on the door. "Sammy? Baby, c'mon don't be like this." When I heard nothing but the shower starting up, I growled loudly and punched the bathroom door, pulled my pants back on and left the hotel room in a hurry. "Scott!" I yelled out, quickly walking to his room.

Ororo walked out of her room and furrowed her brows. "Whoa…Logan," Ororo called out to me. I turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?" she asked.

"Scott's my problem," I told her firmly and pounded on the door.

"Why is he your problem, now?" She asked and crossed her arms.

"Me and Sammy were…making love…and that dickwad just walks right on in!" I yelled out.

"Oh!" Ororo said with shock and bit her lip in thought. "Well, I'm sure he didn't know."

I looked at her firmly and narrowed my eyes. "Well if that stupid sonuvabitch opened up his eye and read the Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the knob, he would'a known!"

"Okay, okay, okay," she told me and held her hands up defensively. "What happened?"

"Samantha's pissed at me," I began and sighed heavily, shaking my head.

"Why?" she asked and raised an eyebrow. "What, you couldn't get it up or something?" she asked and laughed at her own 'joke'. I looked at her. Her eyes widened. "You of all people couldn't---"

"I don't really need you repeatin' it, 'Ro. Once was enough," I told her. She nodded and I grunted in reply. "Scott! Get your puny ass out here, now!" I yelled, pounding on the door.

"Logan, stop it!" Ororo called out to me, placed her hand on my forearm and gave it a slight squeeze. "There're other people trying to sleep. This is a hotel, you know," she said and I turned to her. "C'mon don't look at me like that. I'm sure Samantha isn't that mad."

"I don't wanna shock you or anything Darlin' but…it's been five months." Slowly the door opened, revealing Scott. I turned to him and pushed the door open. "Gimme one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Logan, I had no idea!" he yelled at me and pressed his back against the wall, holding his hands up defensively. "I knocked and everything. I didn't hear a response, so I walked in."

"Logan, stop," Jean called out and walked to me with her arms crossed. I turned to her and sighed heavily. "C'mon, just calm down. He really didn't know."

"Logan said there was a Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the doorknob," Ororo put in her moment. I turned to Scott.

"No there wasn't," Scott told me and shook his head. "That was the first thing I looked for. That's why I knocked."

"Samantha was the one who put the sign on the doorknob," I told them all and crossed my arms. "Because she was taking it out of the little wrapping it was in before doin' so." After a few moments of silence, my eyes widened. "Oh shit…"

"Logan?" I hear from behind me. Jean, Scott, Ororo and I all turned around to face Samantha. "Why was this in the bedroom? I thought I hung it on the doorknob?" she asked me firmly.

"I don't know," I lied and shrugged. "I watched you hang it up."

"Then why was it lyin' on the floor?" she asked in aggravation.

I shrugged my shoulders once more and shook my head. "Baby I don't know! I didn't pull it off or nothin'! I could'a flew off when I came out here."

"Scott, did you see the sign?" Samantha asked. He shook his head. "It's bright blue against a white door. How did you not see it?"

"I don't know," he grunted and furrowed his brows. "Guess I wasn't payin' attention."

"Did you think about knockin'?"

"I did knock."

"Well knock a little louder and wait for someone to answer," she requested. "Please." Samantha glanced at me before heading back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. I grunted.

"I hate gettin' yelled at by her," I grunted and sighed.

"Why?" Ororo asked.

"Because you wind up feelin' like a little kid bein' scolded," Scott explained. I nodded in agreement. Scott turned to me and sighed slightly before crossing his arms. "You want me to talk to 'er?" he asked. But sooner or later, you're gonna haf'ta face your fears…even if it is your own pregnant fiancé. I scrunched up my face and rubbed it with both hands for a few seconds before turning my gaze at the bedroom I knew my pissed off, yet extremely horny, pregnant fiancé stayed in. "C'mon Log…let me talk to---"

"No, I got it," I told him firmly and turned to him. I sighed and slowly made my way to the bedroom. I rested my hand on the doorknob and before I walked in, I turned back to Scott. "Hey…" I called out.

Scott stopped in his tracks and turned to me. "Yeah?"

"Wish me luck?"

"Good luck."

"Thanks…" I grunted and turned back to the door and opened it slowly. When I entered the room, I found it completely dark and silent. I looked around and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding me, and once they were…I made my way to the bed, took off my pants, and sat down on my side. I listened to Samantha's soft breathing beside me and smiled to myself. It was a few moments later when I felt Samantha's hand across my back as she sat up in bed.

"Hey…" she whispered to me. I raised an eyebrow and turned my head to the side to acknowledge her.

"Hey."

"I'm sorry I overreacted…"

I fully turned to her and caressed my fingertips across her neck before resting my hand on the back of her neck. "You're fine. Don't worry about it." I pulled her to me and kissed her lovingly. She moaned slightly and I laid her down, lying on top of her. She caressed my bare sides and arms with her fingertips as I pulled the covers over us. I pulled away and looked down at her. "You still mad at me?"

"What do you think?" she asked with a small smirk and I smiled back at her. I kissed her neck and tugged at her hair gently before slowly entering her body once more. She moaned louder, but it was muffled due to our kissing. Our breathing became heavy, the room became hot, and my tempo got faster as time went by. "Oh…Logan…"

----

"Logan!"

I opened my eyes to the sound of Samantha calling out to me, and sat up quickly, but soon learned it had only been a dream. Her breathing was heavily, and she was drenched in sweat. "Hey…" I called out tiredly and reached for her. She pulled away and turned quickly towards me, but stopped after realizing it was just me. "Hey…it's okay. It's just me."

"Oh…" she whispered out and pulled me into a tight hug and rocked back and forth. She buried her face into my neck and ran her fingers through my hair. "Oh, baby…" she cried out.

"Hey…hey…" I called out softly and tried to pull her away but the attempt failed when she held on tighter. "Baby…what's wrong?" I asked her and rocked with her, trying to console the best I could. It wasn't a few moments later when she pulled away---her face drenched in tears. "Baby…"

"It was just a nightmare," she whispered softly before wiping her tears away and cleared her throat. I narrowed my eyes and turned the lamp on from my nightstand. She had her head hung low and she fiddled with the comforter. "Logan, what if those guys…." She started sadly. I reached out and touched her cheek gently and furrowed my eyebrows tightly.

"Sweetheart," I whispered and caressed her face gently. "Those guys are long gone. You don't have to worry about them, okay?" She nodded but I knew she was still worried. I hadn't wanted her to be worried; due to the fact I was now here to protect her. Think about it…I survived the cure which almost killed me. Her breath was ragged and I knew she trusted me with everything she had.

"I just don't want to lose you," she whispered and pressed her forehead against mine and closed her eyes. Her skin was warm from the sweat, yet she was shaking as if she were freezing. I caressed her arms and pulled her into a hug.

"You can't lose me, baby," I told her reassuringly. "I'm too stubborn t'die," I told her and she only smiled in response. She pulled away and looked into my eyes—her smile spread across her lips. She kissed me passionately and rubbed the tip of her nose against mine.

"I love you."

"I love you."

----

"Rise and shine!" I heard and jumped up. The brightness of the room caught me suddenly, causing me to groan and close my eyes. I lay back down and rubbed my eyes and yawned tiredly. After I was able to open my eyes comfortably, I looked to my left for Samantha, but noticed her side of the bed had already been made. I narrowed my eyes and sat up in bed, raising my trademark eyebrow in return. I yawned again. I looked around the room and found it completely desolate.

Slowly, I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom so I could clean up. I yawned the entire way there—due to the fact I stayed up all night consoling and chatting with my fiancé. I opened the bathroom door and found Samantha sitting at the toilet, her back against the wall. "Baby?" I grunted. She held her head up and smiled---that smile that kinda smile that makes you melt inside? Yeah, that one. "What're you doin'?"

"Mornin' sickness," she mumbled. "I told Jean about it, she said it's normal around this time of first stage of pregnancy."

"Ah." I nodded my head and gently rubbed her back. "You feelin' okay?"

"Well, I haven't thrown up yet," she told me and chuckled. "And I really don't want to."

"C'mon," I called out to her and held my hands out for her to take a hold of. She grabbed my hands and I pulled her up and hugged her tightly…well, as tightly as I could without makin' her…y'know. "We'll get you some crackers."

"Crackers?"

"Yeah," I said with a small nod. "They say if you're pregnant and have morning sickness, you can eat crackers so you don't get it as bad, or as often."

"Hmm," Samantha muttered and nodded. "That's interesting. Where did you get this information from?"

"I don't remember," I told her with a shrug. "I'm gonna take a shower, okay?"

"Okay," she said and kissed my forehead while I yawned for the umpteenth time. She walked away from me and just before she got to the doorway, I lay back on the bed. She turned to me and smirked. "Don't fall back asleep, silly. We're gonna leave soon."

I turned to her and smiled slightly. "I'm not." I yawned and stretched out on the bed and when I was finished I looked back at her. "I swear."

"Uh huh," she called out as she raised an eyebrow and looked at me firmly. I chuckled and watched as she left the room. I yawned the entire way to the bathroom—taking my clothes off while I walked. Do you know how difficult it is to take off your pants when you're trying to walk? Think about it—you're bouncin' all over the place, and you keep runnin' into shit. 'Least I didn't fall over.

When my clothes were finally off, I turned the hot and cold water on and felt the temperature turn to the perfect degree. When it hit it, I plugged up the tub and sat in. After a few minutes, I turned the water off, laid back and slowly closed my eyes.


End file.
